Harry Potter and the Champion of Yeshua
by duskglow
Summary: Harry and Hermione make a huge sacrifice to take their souls back in time to just before the sorting. Their sacrifice has unexpected and world-affecting repercussions. See AN at the beginning for important information. Super!Very Light!Harry, OCs that aren't OCs, explorations of magical theory and theology. No pairings yet, maybe ever. Rated T for infrequent language.
1. Heart of Hogwarts

Disclaimer - and this applies to all chapters: I do not own the Harry Potter universe. That is owned by JK Rowling, and I make no money off of this story. I, of course, do not own Yeshua in any way, shape, or form, though I own the parts where I'm wrong about him. :-) I own all original characters, and I own all original concepts that were not cribbed off of other fanfics. Since I have read many, many fanfics, that may mean I own nothing, but I'm sure there's one or two bits of originality in here that I own. Just assume you can build off what you please and we'll call it square. If you do decide to use my Universe, though (and I mean the totality of what I've created, notwithstanding the origins of the individual ideas), please make sure that you give credit where credit is due, and send me a link so I can read your wonderfulness.

**Harry Potter and the Champion of Yeshua**

A/N: I'm changing this author's note, after having completed this story and having written 22,000 words of the sequel (and yes, the sequel is posted). I'll try to make the notes succinct.

1) Yes, Harry is incredibly "super" in this story. But he is constrained. If you only read to chapter two or three, you might think he's "running roughshod" over England, as one reviewer said. But the amount of times he actually uses his power and authority in this series are actually very constrained. This Harry _can_ do almost anything, but doesn't _want_ to. He is answerable to a higher power. But you have to read further to know that.

2) I am addressing spiritual, religious, scientific, and a bunch of other topics in this story. Keep in mind, please, that it is _just a story_. I don't claim I've gotten everything right, I'm just writing the story that I want to write. I'm not writing the story to please anyone but myself, though if someone does like this story then I'm very appreciative of that fact.

3) I tried very hard to make this story non-denominational. By which I mean, I treat Yeshua as a character in the story with particular attributes rather than a religious figure. I may or may not have succeeded at that. But I made a significant effort to do so. Of course my biases show through, but at no point do I point at any one sect of Christianity and say "that's the right one". As a matter of fact, in this story, he believes _all_ of them get something or other wrong. So I have no axe to grind. Whether you choose to believe that is beyond my control.

These notes are important because the first few chapters completely turn the world over, and then things calm down and things start moving forward in a much more controlled manner. And I try to keep that controlled pace through the rest of the series - that I've written so far, anyway. Thank you for reading and reviewing.

As one reviewer classed the above as "strong hints", let me be absolutely clear: _**Yeshua is a religious figure, also known as Jesus, and he is a prominent character in this story. If this offends you, stop reading now.**_ From here on, any time you feel is wasted on this story is on _you_.

**Harry and Hermione's Dreams**

The night before they were to leave for Hogwarts, a small, green eyed boy and a bushy-haired girl were sharing a dream, even though they didn't know it. Hermione Granger, a small, bushy-haired eleven year old that sometimes knew far too much more than was good for her, was dreaming of a bookshelf as tall as she could see, with the books going up into the mists and being lost to her eyesight without ever ending. Harry Potter, the green-eyed boy, was dreaming of finally getting revenge on his relatives, who treated him like dirt after he'd been left at their doorstep ten years before. Both of them were rather violently pulled out of their dreams and into what seemed to be a large, white room. They looked at each other quizzically, trying to figure out what was going on. At first they were alone, then out of the mists slowly appeared two people, who were walking towards them. There was a medium-height green eyed man who looked like an older version of Harry, and a shorter woman with bushy hair similar to Hermione's, but somehow a little better tamed. They were both attractive, but had a sad and somewhat weathered appearance to their faces. The man had small crow's feet around his eyes, and the woman was just beginning to show minor signs of aging.

"Where are we?", Harry asked first. Hermione nodded. "And, more importantly, who are you?"

"Oh, that's right. You meet tomorrow. You both will be starting at Hogwarts." The man slapped his forehead, which Harry noticed contained a much faded version of his own scar. "Harry Potter, meet Hermione Granger. Hermione Granger, meet -"

"Harry Potter!," she exclaimed. "I read about you! You -", and then shut her mouth at the reproving look on the woman's face. She blushed a little.

The woman facepalmed. "I can't believe this. Was I ever that bad?"

The man nodded. "Yes. But you did grow up." He looked towards the children. "I bet you wonder who we are."

They both nodded.

"Well, let us introduce ourselves. I'm Harry Potter, and this is Hermione Granger."

The younger Hermione looked like she was loading up questions into the question-gun and was about to shoot them in full machine mode. The older Hermione held up a hand. "Hold your questions, please. Let me tell our story first."

They both nodded, and chairs appeared. The four of them sat down.

"You won't meet until tomorrow, on the train. We have known each other for, what, 27 years?", and looked questioningly at older Hermione, and she nodded. "27 years. Things got bad a few years from now, and it took the wizarding world, and us personally, years to get over it. We made a lot of bad decisions and so did the people around us. A lot of people we knew died. We won, but the cost was very high, and we realized that the problems were deeper than just a few people. We decided that we were going back in time to work on fixing the problems before things got bad again. And here we are!", he said, arms spread.

Older Hermione then spoke up. "Yes, but here's the problem - we only got one chance at this. We made a very big sacrifice in our timeline for this ritual to work, and it has both benefits and limitations. We could have just come back into your bodies and just started using our knowledge to change things, but there were three problems with that: We haven't been eleven years old in twenty-seven years so we would have no idea how to play the part, and more importantly, that would mean that our souls would subsume yours,and that would be much like killing you. You, as you know yourselves, would no longer exist. We couldn't bring ourselves to do that. But a problem that was almost as bad as the other two was the fact that as we changed the timeline, our knowledge would become useless. We didn't see the point in that."

"Yes", Harry said, "we thought that was too great a cost and that there were far too many disadvantages. So we settled on the next best thing. Instead of being you, we're going to be *with* you. You get our expanded magical efficiencies, our skills, our guidance, some of our memories, and we will stay with you and guide you. We will be able to take over directly, but only with your permission. Hopefully you will learn to trust us in time. But we can't give you everything. We've thought very carefully about this - and there are some things you need to learn and understand for yourself, and not only that, the more of ourselves we give you, the more we'll change your personalities to match ours, and that defeats the whole purpose. But what we're most concerned with is your ability to defend yourself, and we've made sure to have already shared those abilities."

Older Hermione took back over. "We would ask if you agree, but it's already done. But we really do think it will help, not only with living your lives in a far better manner, but also with the future of the wizarding world. I know you might not trust us right now, but believe us - we are you, just older. You get the better end of the deal by far. We had to sacrifice… a lot…", she said, and her eyes moistened a little.

Younger Harry looked at younger Hermione, and shared an unspoken agreement. Hermione spoke up, far more timidly than usual.

"Are you… are you married?"

Older Harry sighed. "I don't want to tell you too many details of our future. It would affect your present decisions. No, we aren't married. Not to each other, and not to anyone else, anymore. We made some bad choices. Some due to the war, and some… well… sometimes things don't work out the way the fairy tales say they should."

Older Hermione shared a meaningful look with older Harry. "But we're not telling you more than that. We're not here to direct your life - well, within certain limits. You are not destined for each other, and you are not _not_ destined for each other. That is for the two of you to decide in the future, and we have no interest in whether that happens or not. We're here because we think… we think a lot of mistakes were made by a lot of people, including us, and things could have been so much better if… if…", and she sniffled, wiping her eyes.

Older Harry took over again. "But there are some things you can do, starting immediately. Together, Harry, we can make it so you never have to see the Dursleys again. And Hermione, It's not directly clear what benefits you'll gain past our expanded skills, but I can't think of any way they would do you anything but good. You could just ignore us and go on with your lives as usual. But you could also change the world. What do you think?"

Young Harry and young Hermione whispered amongst each other, then turned to their older counterparts. As one, they nodded. "What have we got to lose?", Harry said. "It would seem disrespectful not to honor whatever… sacrifices… you made to be here. Whatever they were," he said softly, lowering his head.

Older Hermione smiled a watery smile. "Harry, you know, we're not the only one to have sacrificed a great deal. We know about the Dursleys and how they treated you".

Young Hermione's head snapped over to Harry, and a look of compassion fought with a look of curiosity.

"No, Hermione", her older self said, a little severely. "He'll tell you in his own time. Don't pester him about it. Harry, what I'm trying to say is, we sacrificed a lot, but we know how much you did too. This isn't something we're going to hold over your head. Whatever you think you owe us, you've already paid to the powers that be. We're just here to make sure that what you've already sacrificed isn't in vain."

Younger Harry nodded, looking somewhat shell-shocked.

Older Harry smiled. "Okay, then. Always remember, from now on, we may not have all the answers, but you're never alone. So here's what I want to start with…" And they talked all through the night, not saying goodbye until both of them had to wake up to go to London. They couldn't impart all of the information they wanted in such a short time, but they could impart a lot of it, and both of them woke up knowing much more about the world they lived in than when they went to sleep.

The next morning, they both found themselves on platform 9 ¾. Harry had seen a gaggle of redheads that his older self identified as the Weasleys, and his older self made the observation that with so many of them that had already gone to Hogwarts, that there was really no reason for the older lady to yell out details that might have drawn the attention of muggles. He presented the observation factually, but it put young Harry on notice that things really weren't as they seemed. Especially since the youngest girl, a cute redhead, seemed to be alternately boring into him with her eyes and bashfully looking away when she thought he wasn't watching.

"That's Ginny Weasley", his older self said. "She's been raised on books about you and has childhood fantasies about you being someone you're not."

"What books about me?"

"Go to the bookstore later and you'll see. That's something we'll have to deal with," older Harry said in his head. "It's really not important right now. The important thing to know is that many people have an image of you that is not based in reality."

Harry pushed his way through the crowds and finally made his way to the train. As he got on, he went down the aisles looking for a now familiar bushy-haired girl. When he finally found her, she was alone in a compartment. He put his trunk on the rack, and sat down across from her. She looked nervous, but he attributed that to shyness. After all, this was the first time they'd actually met in person. Both of them were actually wondering if it was just a very realistic dream, and here was proof that it was not.

He closed the door and cast a simple locking charm on it. She smiled.

"It's a very simple charm. A simple "alohomora" will unlock it. It will also identify who wants to talk to us so badly that they'll violate our privacy to do it. Those people, I think, aren't to be trusted. Those who can be trusted will knock."

She nodded. "Good idea.".

They were interrupted by a red-headed boy trying to open the compartment. He was really working at it, and not taking no for an answer. "Let me in!", he was yelling. "Every other compartment is full!". Soon they heard the rattling stop and someone else say "no it's not, there's room right over there."

"But… but…. That's Harry Potter! I'm supposed to make friends with him! Dumbledore said so!"

"The door's locked, Weasley", they heard the other voice say. "I'm not sure how a couple of first years managed that, but it's not against the rules. Quit violating their space and go somewhere else."

"But.. But…"

"Now, Weasley, before I call a prefect."

Harry looked at Hermione and mouthed "Dumbledore?"

She giggled. "Well, he's certainly not going into Slytherin. That was about as cunning as a rampaging dragon."

As the train started moving, she pulled out a book, and quickly realized she knew everything in the book already, and so was frustrated. What was she going to read? She knew she knew everything in all of her other books too. Her older self snickered in her head.

Harry giggled a little, too.

"What?", she said, a bit defensively.

"Just watch the scenery and take a nap, Hermione. We've been given a great gift by our older friends. Do you know what that is?"

"What?"

"No pressure. If you want to get some more advanced books later, you can. If you want to study more advanced stuff on the side, you can. But right now… just enjoy the trip. You're literally *years* above everyone else."

She sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I suppose you're right."

He smiled. "I'm always right, or so my older self tells me."

She mock growled at him. "My older self says if you were always right we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place."

His eyes opened wide. "Ummm… I don't think we should do this."

"Do what?"

"Have our older selves have a proxy fight through us. They might say something… embarrassing."

"Like what?.. Ooooh", she said, and turned beet red.

They both heard quiet snickering in their heads, as they squirmed a little in their seats.

"They know we're both eleven, but they're us. They know our secrets. Even the embarrassing ones. They might not be able to tell, but..."

She nodded, still squirming a little. "They can tease us."

He nodded. "We might need to lay down some ground rules."

Her eyes opened wide. "Who are the marauders?"

He groaned. "Oh no. This isn't good. This isn't good at all."

**Draco**

About halfway through the trip, a blonde-haired boy who didn't look like he'd performed a day of exercise in his life, and two of his friends, who looked like the only exercise they'd done was moving food from their plate to their mouth, showed up. The blonde-haired boy found the door locked, and instead of knocking, just performed an "alohomora" spell and opened the door. Both Harry and Hermione, having been warned of this encounter, just sat there, with their wands being held in their laps, but seemingly relaxed.

"So it's true", the blonde haired boy said. "Harry Potter is coming to Hogwarts."

"And you are?", Harry said neutrally.

"Draco Malfoy. These are my friends Crabbe and Goyle. My father is on the board of governors, and is very influential. You'll find that there are people who can help you, and people who are…", his eyes flashed to Hermione. "Not the right sort. I can help you there."

"My name is Hermione Granger", Hermione offered, also neutrally.

"I wasn't talking to you, mudblood." Hermione's lips pressed together but otherwise her expression didn't change. He turned to Harry. "So how about it?", and extended his hand.

Harry did not move, and particularly made no move to shake the proffered hand. "Malfoy, Malfoy… yes, I've heard of your family. A minor house originating from France a few hundred years ago. Supposedly your family has been in Slytherin for as long as you've been going to Hogwarts."

Draco nodded, but frowned at the reference to his house being "minor". "That's correct."

"And remind me, is Slytherin supposed to be a house where those who are ambitious and cunning are supposed to be sorted?"

Draco looked confused. "Yes? What's your point, Potter?"

"Well, spelling your way into a locked compartment could qualify as ambitious, but I don't understand what's so cunning about rampaging like a charging bull, bragging about your father's political power, insulting my far more powerful than you friend here, and trying to get on my good side solely by attempting to offer your friendship before anyone else does. That's hardly Slytherin. In fact, I'd say… that's pretty Gryffindor of you."

Draco lowered his hand, placing it near his wand. "Take that back!", he said, his face starting to turn a red color that did not match his hair.

"Why? Do you know what a Slytherin would have done? A Slytherin would have _knocked_. And then I might have unlocked the door, and you might have walked in and sat down, without your bodyguards. And then we might have had a nice conversation, then you would have waited until Hermione here excused herself to go to the loo, and you might have attempted to plant seeds of doubt as to her parentage and character. That wouldn't have worked, but at least it would have been cunning. Instead, you waltzed in with a show of force, try to overpower me with your parentage and wealth, and then insult someone _to her face_ because to you, she's not worth your 'Slytherin cunning'. That's definitely Gryffindor behavior. So, tell me again, why should we be friends, considering you've already committed several major breaches of etiquette against House Potter, an _ancient and noble house_, and surely your father, such an _upstanding member_ of pureblood society, taught you better than that. Didn't he?", Harry asked, face and voice completely neutral.

Draco was shaking. Not only because he was furious, but because Potter was right. Draco knew better and blew it. It wasn't cunning at all.

"Take your bodyguards and think about what you've done. Once you're ready to treat me as you would any other upstanding member of society, come back and we'll talk. Oh, by the way. Miss Granger here is, as of right now, unofficially under the protection of House Potter. If she would like," he said with a pointed look at her, and she nodded slowly, "I'll make it official. I know my heritage, Mr. Malfoy. Now you know I know mine, and yours. Go, and we'll start over when you've had some time to think about how you bollocksed this up. Now leave me, Mr. Malfoy, scion of the _minor_ house of Malfoy."

Shaking with rage and embarrassment, he slammed the door and left. Harry put the locking spell back on the door, and sat back, blowing a breath out. Hermione looked at him with her mouth dropped. "Harry, what was that?"

"Remember how they said that they could take over if we allowed them? Well, he asked, and I let him take over. Holy shite, that was a beatdown!"

"Langu-", she said reflexively, then stopped. "Hmm. Apparently I have quite a potty mouth too when I'm older." She giggled. "She just told me what she thought of my saying 'language' all the time in no uncertain terms, and I had no idea that would fit there."

Harry laughed. "I won't tell if you don't". She giggled some more. Harry was finding he quite liked her giggle.

"Things are not going to go the way they would have, at the sorting, you know."

She smiled. "I know. This is going to be fun."

He nodded. "From what I'm being told, it's for the best."

They chatted about inconsequential things as the train barreled towards Hogwarts. After, of course, he officially placed her under the protection of House Potter.

Finally, after a lot of hustle and bustle and "firs' years over here!", they found themselves in the anteroom waiting for the sorting. Harry ignored all of his fellow first years and placed his hand against the wall. He felt the thrumming sentience of Hogwarts.

"Hogwarts", he directed his thoughts towards the sentience, "I am the Heir of Slytherin by conquest".

He felt the smile of Hogwarts as he awaited a response. "So you are, my heir. Welcome to Hogwarts".

"I will be going to the 'come and go' room shortly along with my friend Miss Granger, who is under my protection. I don't have much time. But as one of the Founders Heirs, I command that the sorting occur fairly from this year forward with no interference from outside sources, including the headmaster. Also, please sort the following people first: Mr. Malfoy and me. This is to prevent the hat from sorting people based upon their _impression_ of where we are going to be sorted."

He heard McGonagall calling for the first years to follow her, so he could only hold his hand to the wall long enough to hear "It shall be done, my Heir."

The gaggle of first years walked through the waiting Great Hall towards the sorting hat. Harry and Hermione were looking at the Great Hall. Even though their older selves had prepared them a little, they hadn't said too much. They wanted it to be a surprise. And boy, was it a surprise. If nothing else, Hogwarts sure knew how to put on a show. There was a hat on a stool in the middle of the floor near the staff table. The two exchanged glances. _That's _what's going to sort them?

Finally the brim of the sorting hat opened.

"_Oh, I'm a sorting hat, an older one you'll ne'er see_

_I've been here from the first year there were timid lil firsties_

_My job is to sort you tykes unbiased and with fairness_

_But to do so you must wear me so that I may have awareness_

_Will you be ambitious and cunning, like ol' Salazar?_

_With colors green and silver, influencing from afar._

_Or how about red and gold, like good ol' Gryffindor?_

_Charging into battle, the heroes of the wars._

_You could be Yellow and Black, the colors of Hufflepuff_

_The colors of the honeybee, making sure there's enough_

_Or blue and bronze, like Ravenclaw, with knowledge and such wit_

_Is that the house for which you will be the most accurate fit?_

_I am a sorting hat, just put me on, and see what's hiding there._

_I can't wait to see what's underneath your HEIR!"_

The hat then went silent. No one noticed the slight mispronunciation of the last word except for Harry and Hermione. They shared a look. Things had already changed. They were informed that that was not the previous song.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "Now we will begin the sorting."

The hat opened its brim. "Malfoy, Draco!"

The room was abuzz, this had never happened before. Professor McGonagall stalked over to the hat and put it on. She argued with the hat for at least twenty seconds but it wasn't budging. She then brought it over to the brightly-robed headmaster who also put it on, and still apparently made no headway. The two professors argued a little before finally she put the head back on its stool.

"Malfoy, Draco", she said, defeated.

He put the hat on, and instead of it immediately saying "Slytherin", like everyone expected, he had it on for at least thirty seconds, and the expressions on his face were changing from scared to murderous and back to scared again. Finally the hat yelled "**Gryffindor!**"

Malfoy ripped the hat off and stalked to the Gryffindor table, where he was only politely welcomed.

The hat opened its rim again. "Potter, Harry!"

McGonagall sighed, but didn't want to go through it all again, so she just motioned him up to the hat. He put the hat on, and as soon as he did, he heard a voice.

"Ah. Harry Potter. I wondered when I'd see you... Wait. There are two of you!"

"Long story, hat. I'm the Heir of Slytherin by conquest. I'd never have known this without the help of my future self. Don't tell me this has never happened before."

The hat chuckled. "I cannot tell about previous students, even to a Founder's Heir… this is a rarity, but not unheard of. Completely new magic is far rarer than obscure and rarely used magic, and you should have seen some of the magic of years past, it was a sight to behold. Anyway, I should make an honest effort to sort you, as you commanded. Ah, I see last time I sorted you into Gryffindor, but that was because Mr. Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin and he'd made a very bad impression on you, which I understand entirely. Ahh, I see now why you interfered. Good work, lad. About as subtle as a… rampaging dragon… but sometimes the most cunning thing to do is the least subtle. Even though Gryffindor is a good fit, It seems I previously said that Slytherin would help you on the way to greatness, and that is still the case… but you're not resisting me now, are you? Well, nice meeting you, Heir, I'm sure we will be talking again. You're either going to change the world or die trying, that much I can see right now. Watch this, I love defying expectations, Mr. Malfoy was so much fun. Better be… **SLYTHERIN**!"

Harry carefully removed the hat, walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down. His new Slytherin housemates appeared to have absolutely no idea what to make of that. A few clapped, but there was mostly murmuring throughout the Great Hall. Malfoy was staring at him from the Gryffindor table with unbridled hate, he must be blaming me for this, Harry thought. Well, I didn't tell the hat how to sort, I just told it to sort fairly. He shrugged to himself. A hook-nosed man in a black cape at the head table was staring daggers at him. That must be Professor Snape. He didn't mind. Snape would be gone very soon. He had about fifteen different plans to get rid of him, and none of them were pleasant for the Professor. Professor Dumbledore was staring at him with a look on his face that altered between disappointment and fury, and the man on the right, who his older self told him was Professor Quirrell and Voldemort, locked eyes with him. He felt pressure on his occlumency shields, and pushed back. Quirrell grimaced and averted his gaze.

McGonagall looked at the hat expectantly, who did the hat equivalent of a shrug. "Do your thing, Professor", it said. "That was all I needed."

The rest of the sorting occurred mostly as before, but with some changes. Hermione was sorted into Ravenclaw. Neville Longbottom was sorted into Hufflepuff. Ron Weasley was still sorted into Gryffindor, and was apparently the first student in fifty years to lose points before they were actually sorted, because as soon as the hat said "Gryffindor", their hourglass went down by ten points. Not an auspicious start.

Once the sorting was finished and all the students were seated at their respect tables, Dumbledore spoke up. He seemed to have recovered from his previous fury, and his eyes were merrily twinkling. "A sorting like that we have not seen in many a year, I dare say. I have many announcements, but they can wait until all of our stomachs are full. I would, however, like to say a few words before we begin. And here they are: 'effluvient! imprecation! haberdasher! intercourse!'" A few students giggled or looked a little affronted, but most were just waiting for the food to appear.

And with a wave of his hands food appeared on the table, the likes of which many of the firsties had never seen before. "Dig in!", Dumbledore said jovially, and sat down.

McGonagall looked at Dumbledore with her lips pressed tightly together and they had what appeared to be a fairly heated conversation. Harry snickered to himself. Most of the students probably missed his message, which translated roughly to "fuck that hat!"

\- Champion -

As Harry took some food from the dishes around him, he took some time to look at the people sitting next to him. He was surprised at the looks on most of their faces. A pug-faced, blonde haired girl (who his older self identified as Pansy Parkinson) seemed to be utterly lost, mechanically eating her food, looking a little crushed. His older self informed him that Pansy and Draco had been under a marriage contract for most of their lives, and his sorting into Gryffindor had put many plans in jeopardy. It was rather stupid that the house their children were placed in were so significant to many in the wizarding society, and for that alone, there were bound to be consequences. Those would have to play out in their own time, neither Harry nor Hermione had any particular plans where those two were concerned. It was clear, though, that Draco being put into Gryffindor would have far reaching effects that had probably already ensured the timestream would be very different. Previously, Draco had ruled the roost in Slytherin with the complicity of Snape. He doubted McGonagall would be quite as accommodating to his imperiousness.

Many of the other Slytherin students were chatting amongst themselves familiarly though, though they gave Harry a wide berth and didn't seem to know how to take his sorting into Slytherin. On the one hand, he had single handedly, if accidentally, destroyed the dark wizard that many of their parents either followed or allied with people who followed, and not only that, but he was a halfblood to boot. On the other hand, he was probably one of the most famous wizards in the wizarding world, known throughout the world as the vanquisher of one of the more terrible dark lords to ever exist, and was the last heir of the Potter family, who had significant financial resources and could wield considerable power if he had any idea how to use it. Many owls would be flying to their parents tonight, mostly because many suspected he didn't and thought they may be able to take advantage of his ignorance. Harry grinned to himself. Maybe they might want to ask Draco how that was likely to go.

Not all Slytherins were actively avoiding him, though. A small, pretty, black haired girl who had been sorted with him, Daphne Greengrass, was boring into him with her piercing blue eyes and a neutral expression. He turned and returned her gaze. She met his challenge for a few seconds, then looked down and picked at her food. He wondered what that was about. Even the older version of him shrugged, saying he didn't understand women either.

Over at the Gryffindor table, a similar thing was happening, but in reverse. Amongst the purebloods Draco Malfoy's influence was well established, and had he been sorted into Slytherin, he knew that his father's influence would have enabled him to rule the roost for years. But most in Gryffindor didn't care about any of that. It was full of halfbloods and mudbloods, and whatever purebloods were there didn't seem to care about any of that - sodding Weasleys. A bunch of blood-traitors if he'd ever seen them - after all, their father was fascinated with Muggles and even headed the "Misuse of Muggle Artifacts" department at the Ministry. Any attempt to use his influence - well, his father's influence - in Gryffindor, would probably see him hanging from the rafters in his boxers. Many of the muggleborns who had no idea who he was were trying to chat with him, but he was having none of it. With a well-practiced sneer, he just ignored them all, and picked at his food in the same manner that Pansy was at the Slytherin table. He thought back to what the sorting hat told him:

"_Ahh, Draco Malfoy, I see. Oh, you were expecting me to say "Slytherin" the moment you placed me on your head, eh? Well, that would hardly be a fair sorting, would it. Well, let's see what's in here. Oh yes, cunning indeed, you have plenty of that. You would probably do well in Slytherin, but I'm not convinced that's the right place for you. What's that? Your father's money has no sway here, and this is why this is such a difficult decision. You can be cunning, but your ambition seems to be limited to being a daddy's boy and using his money to buy popularity and power, but you have no actual ambition other than gaining power and satisfying your baser needs. You're about as loyal as a mercenary, so Hufflepuff's out, and all your wit has been bred out of you by pureblood training. Oh, what's this I see? You hold grudges forever, and whenever you take revenge, it is brutal and without any subtlety whatsoever. You charge into situations without thinking and usually end up fighting your enemies openly after you lose patience with cunning and race in wands waving. I'd say that makes you the best fit for GRYFFINDOR!"_

For the first time in his young life, he thought the words "just wait until my Father hears about this", and this time he didn't think his father would be able to come to his rescue. He was also sure, it would not be for lack of trying. But the Sorting Hat's word was final nearly all of the time, and he didn't think this time would be the exception. If one was to get to the sorting hat, it would have to be _before_ the sorting, which he thought was already taken care of. And judging by the look on the Headmaster's face, he wasn't the only one.

Hermione, though, at the Ravenclaw table, was quite happy, chatting amiably with Sue Li and Lisa Turpin. This time around it looked like she'd have a whole different set of friends, and after what her older self told her about Ron Weasley, and the way he'd acted on the train, she didn't think that was a bad thing at all.

After the meal, which both Harry and Hermione thought was delicious, Dumbledore stood up to say his customary few words.

"Now that are stomachs are full, there are a few announcements to make before the beginning of term. First of all, the name 'Forbidden Forest' is not just a name someone gave it to be funny. It is truly forbidden. There are dangers lurking there with which you would likely not survive an encounter. Secondly, please avoid the third floor corridor on the left if you would like to avoid a most painful death. Third and last, the list of items banned in the school has now gotten longer than Filch's office door, and is thus available next to his office door on a rather large board we put up just for the occasion" - and he sent a meaningful look to both Fred and George Weasley, who stood up and bowed. "Yes, yes, now, first years, your prefects will show you to your dorms. Toodles!", he said, and everyone started standing up. The feast was over.

A pompous prefect stood up at his table, stated flatly, "First years, follow me", and walked out without preamble. Harry scrambled to keep up, but after a little hustle and bustle they finally got to the dungeons. They stopped inside an alcove with nothing but a snake to mark the door, and the prefect said, clearly, "Cunning and Guile". The door slid open, and they walked through. The Slytherin common room was under the lake, and through the ceiling Harry could see fish and other unidentified marine life swimming nonchalantly over everyone's heads. Occasionally a merperson peered in, but moved on. The affairs of humans weren't all that interesting.

The prefect said "That was the password. Do not forget it. The house of Slytherin is known for its cunning and guile, but more importantly, we are not thought of well by the other three houses here. The house rules are posted on the bulletin board, but here are the most important. Slytherins stand up for each other, and if for some reason a rule must be broken we do _not get caught_. Do you understand?

All the firsties nodded their head, some rather cowed, but others seemed to expect this.

All eyes turned to the side of the room as their head of house, Severus Snape, walked in, his cape billowing behind him. He stopped and stared at all of the firsties, as if they were beneath him. His eyes stopped on Harry.

"Harry Potter. You somehow got into my house, I see."

Harry nodded. "It seems so, Professor."

"I hope you're not expecting… special treatment, Potter. Considering you are a… celebrity."

Harry willed his eyes wide. "Oh no, Professor Snape! Never! I'll take my classes _siriusly_! I'll be so _lily_-white you'll never have any trouble with me!"

Snape's eyes popped wide open, and with barely contained rage, he spun around and billowed back into his office, slamming the door after himself.

The prefect looked at him, mouth agape. "What did you do?", he demanded.

Harry shrugged. "I just promised to be good. I wonder why he took it so bad."

After finding his dorm and his bed, he found his trunk at the foot of his bed. After casting detection spells to ensure that his bed was safe, and NEWT-level protective wards to ensure he and his possessions would be undisturbed, he fell into a deep sleep, thinking as he drifted off that life was going to be interesting from now on. His older self agreed.

\- Champion -

The next day, after classes ended and another delicious meal, Harry and Hermione found themselves outside of a piece of blank wall near a tapestry of a troll doing silly stuff labeled "Barnabus the Barmy". As instructed by his older self, he paced back and forth in front of the wall, thinking about the "Heart of Hogwarts". Finally, a door appeared, and they walked in.

As the door closed, they felt the magic of the castle positively thrumming around them, like it was a living thing. There were lines criss-crossing the room, making it look somewhat like the holodeck from "Star Trek, the Next Generation". Three comfortable chairs appeared in the room, and a woman appeared. She looked to be about 30 years old, had very long, black hair, was pretty but not distractingly so, and was wearing a teacher's robe.

"Hello, young ones. I am Hogwarts."

Hermione gasped. "The castle is sentient?"

Hogwarts waved them to take a seat. "Patience, young one. I have much to teach you both, and little time to do it in. You are Hermione Granger, daughter of Rupert and Bonnie Granger, correct?"

She nodded.

"And you, my young heir, are Harry Potter, son of James Potter and Lily Evans, heir of Slytherin by conquest, and Gryffindor by blood. Is that correct?"

"I didn't know about Gryffindor, but that is correct."

"There are many things you do not know, Harry. I confess to not knowing everything either, but there are people who can help you with what I cannot. I, however, must teach you what it means to be a Founder's Heir, as there are secrets that I can tell only you and those you personally wish to share them with. I assume, as you have brought Hermione here, she is one of those people?

He nodded. "Yes, she is".

"Good. I must say that very little of what you see here can be repeated to others without my permission. This is not a rule that will cause bad consequences if it is broken, nor is it is something that you will offend me if you do. It is a simple statement of fact. These have been deemed secrets and must stay that way. Therefore, you will be unable to even hint at them."

Both young people nodded.

"You might be wondering what your role is in relation to the Headmaster, so let's start with that. The Headmaster is responsible for the education in this school, and this is a role I am content to allow him to occupy. Everything, of course, must be as is ordained, and a school must have a headmaster. However, as long as there are no Founder's Heirs present, he is also responsible for the safety and the protection of the school, so he has slightly more access to the castle than he would otherwise, such as control over the wards. However, when a Founder's Heir has claimed his or her position, as you have, the role of protecting the school from threats, without or within, is then returned to the Heir. You thus have complete control of the wards and can overrule the headmaster when it comes to matters relating to the safety of the school. You, however, do not have the right to countermand a sitting headmaster or any of the staff when it comes to matters of education, including things such as giving points or detentions unless the detentions cause actual harm to students past ordinary punishment. When the matters of education conflict with matters of safety, however, the Founder's Heir generally has final say. Typically you are granted a significant amount of leeway when it comes to your responsibility, however, as the magical embodiment of Hogwarts, I am required to intervene when it appears that either you or the headmaster have overstepped your boundaries. Is this clear so far?"

"I protect the school, he teaches the students, and we're not to interfere with each other unless absolutely necessary. I win out when those two things conflict in most cases, but you can decide otherwise if necessary."

She nodded. "Just so."

She tucked one leg under her other, and made herself comfortable in her chair. "I haven't embodied myself in so long I forget that legs can lose feeling if you sit wrong. I confess to being a little embarrassed." She chuckled. "I would say 'I'm only human', but I'm just 'playing one on TV', as you might say". She chuckled again at her little joke.

"Is your body real?", Hermione asked.

"When I am embodied, yes", Hogwarts said. "It works like any other human body, except I have slightly more control over its functions than most humans do. When I'm embodied, though, I find myself with many of the same urges and motivations that many humans do. However, being Hogwarts is not just my job, it is my identity. My body is female, but I am far more than my body, and when my body has been stored I still exist fully. Does that answer your question?"

Hermione nodded. "I was just curious. Your body is human when you choose to use it, but you are not. Could you have a child if you chose?"

"It's a reasonable thing to be curious about. Most humans do not meet an embodied castle. As for your second question, I imagine biologically it would be possible, but I don't have any idea what the implications would be, either for me or the child. Having to stay embodied for nine months while it gestates is not an ideal situation for me, as it takes significant energy to embody myself. It is a question to which it is probably best that I don't find out the answer."

"Most humans don't meet an embodied _anything"_, Harry observed.

"Quite so", Howarts chuckled amusedly. "I am not one of a kind, but I am very close. My type of sentience is extremely rare."

"So, here are the secrets I must tell you. They are secrets that many would kill for, but even those who would kill for them wouldn't realize that would mostly negate their value. I wish to teach you the nature of magic. Not the history of magical users, but the nature of magic itself."

A 3D rendition of the world appeared, with glowing lines criss-crossing it in every conceivable direction.

"'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth'. This is the first line of the Muggle Bible, and it is true. Magic was created at the same time. It the medium through which everything is held together and everything exists. It cannot be seen, touched, felt, tasted, smelled, or detected with any other external sense. But nonetheless, it exists.

On its own, it is naught but a rudderless force, working within the will of the creator, but with no particular direction of its own. It was decided that some people would evolve a gift that would allow them to directly interact with and direct that magic. It was seen as another tool that could be used so that people could help to carry out the mission that was set out for them: to direct creation in a more… direct… manner than could be done through raw magic itself. Because although raw magic is sentient - in fact, it derives its sentience from the Creator itself - what it can do on its own is limited. It is a massive and unstoppable force, but it moves very slowly and by itself is utterly unconcerned with anything not on a very large scale. It can alter things slowly on a geologic scale, it can direct evolution and act as a check and local reversal to entropy, but it doesn't have, on its own, the ability - or even interest - to create change on quicker or smaller scales. Do you understand so far?"

Hermione nodded, eyes wide with eagerness, but Harry seemed a little slower on the uptake. She noticed. "Basically, magical creatures are necessary so that magic can continue to perform its mission of creation and renewal on a quicker timescale and smaller area than it would be able to otherwise. Think of them as Magic's arms and legs, in a sense."

"I think I understand," Harry said.

"Good", Hogwarts said, and adjusted her legs a little differently. She waved her arm and a glass of water appeared in her hand. She sipped gratefully. "Would you like some?"

Both shook their head. This story she was telling was far too fascinating.

Hogwarts pointed at the globe. "These glowing lines are called "Ley lines". They are a kind of magical circuit that flows throughout the earth. The ley lines are locations where the ambient magic is more potent than in other places because significant, coherent flows of magic are happening very close to the surface and leaking out into the area around them. The more ley lines one is in proximity to, the more power is available for use. Stonehenge, for example, sits on two of them and is considered one of the most potent ritual sites in Great Britain. Hogwarts sits on three. There are many other magical places in the earth that are even more potent. The Vatican sits on five (though many there are not aware of that fact), and the city of Jerusalem is perhaps the most magically powerful place on the planet, sitting on not only seven different ley lines but directly over a magical "volcano", for want of a better word. There is a reason that that city is one of the most historically significant cities in the world and has been for millennia."

She took another sip and smiled. "In fact, the most powerful ritual ever done - by orders of magnitude - happened there two thousand years ago. The ritual required the sacrifice by the most painful suffering possible without using magic of a man that was pure in every way. He never refused to forgive anyone that asked, or even didn't, and he had the favor of magic, which willingly worked through him, but not the ability to directly wield a focus, nor did he want one. When he died, the completion of the ritual, along with the unlimited magical power available in the place, sent ripples far into the future and all the way back, even to the beginning of time, and he was made one with magic. His name was Yeshua. Oh sure," she waved her hands, "religion kinda got what happened there a little messed up, but they got the gist of it. The sentience of magic thus gained a personality."

Hermione's mouth was now completely dropped open, and Harry was obviously trying to process all of this new information. This put a new spin on a lot of things.

"What are some other magically significant places?"

"Hmm," she responded. "The Great Pyramids of Giza, A specific Shinto shrine near Mount Fuji in Japan, and strangely enough, a bait shop in Arkansas in the USA. No one there has any idea why they seem to catch so many fish. There are others, too, and some of them are well hidden and unexpected.

"But given the nature of magic that I've explained to you, you might wonder, then, why there are dark wizards, or why magic can be used for evil purposes. It's like having an arm. Should you not have an arm because it can be used to punch someone? Magic is a gift given to people in a somewhat indiscriminate way, offered more by chance than merit, and sometimes unfortunate people end up with it. But magic never assists those people, and eventually they lose. Because magic _does_ assist the people who try to stop them.

"Your predecessor as the Heir of Slytherin, Tom Riddle, AKA Voldemort, tried to find the Heart of Hogwarts, even though he asked in the very same way you did. He never succeeded. The most he succeeded at was finding the Chamber of Secrets. I would never have helped him, and I didn't. But he did his research, and did, on his own, great and terrible things. But he will be nothing but chaff before the wind, before long. It is so ordained"

She stood up, and invited the two students to stand up as well. "But that's not what I want to show you," she said, as she stepped through a door that had just materialized in the far wall.

As they walked through, the feeling of magic was almost oppressive. They were in a huge hall, probably a half a mile in each direction, large enough that the walls on each side were barely visible. They were on a catwalk about a hundred feet above what appeared to be machinery, but of a type that they had never seen. There to their right, there appeared to be ethereal-looking pipes coming out of the wall, at least twenty feet thick each, pushing into a huge flat platform which appeared to be made of the same ethereal matter. Above that flat platform was a huge array of what appeared to be lines and lines of irrigation hoses. Each one had an ethereal pipe that was leading up to the ceiling and going through it. At regular intervals there also appeared to be what looked like pressure tanks, but of a kind they'd never seen.

Hogwarts waved her arms. "This is the actual Heart of Hogwarts. We are about two thousand feet below ground right now. That pipe to your right is a ley line entering Hogwarts. The line is piped all the way through the tank, but it is tapped. The other two lines are tapped in much the same way. We can open and close the taps based upon how much energy we need. This room is designed to take the energy _directly_ from the ley lines and imbue it into the structure of the castle. Each spout below releases a small amount of pure magic, and the walls are specially designed to absorb and conduct it. At present, even when the entire castle is using as much magic as it possibly can, the taps are still open to only ten percent. Even now, at about one percent, it is enough power to power all of the wards and other magical structures of Hogwarts, with enough left over to provide ambient power for the Forbidden Forest, the Black Lake, and Hogsmeade. Yes, being over the ley lines would still provide a significant boost without this room, but this is _the_ secret as to why Hogwarts and the area around is such a magical place. Those pressure tanks over there store magic for use if the ley lines fluctuate - we can operate at full power for several days on just the magic in the storage tanks.

"We could open the taps more, even to the point of releasing the entire magical flow of all three lines, but the consequences could be unexpected, and also, we don't want to reduce the amount available to other sites on the same lines. But if we need to, we can."

"If the castle needs to reconfigure itself, we just open the taps a little more, and use the magic to do whatever we need to do. This castle is as big on the inside as we need, with very few restrictions. The Room of Requirement, particularly. The magic required for that room is, in some ways, the pinnacle of magical achievement."

She expanded her arms. "This is why Hogwarts is the safest place in Great Britain, and one of the safest in the world." Her expression turned sour. "Or at least was. This is lost knowledge now, and no one seems interested in even using even what they do know."

They walked back through the door to the anteroom, and walked through another. This room was very different - it was warm, and while it was very large, it appeared to be filled with vertical stones made of a very ethereal material.

"This", Hogwarts said, "is the nerve center of Hogwarts. Many people think that we have some huge wardstone sitting in some room in the center of the castle that controls the wards. Nope, this is it. All of these ethereal-looking stones are wardstones, yes, but the runic arrays are configurable. Only about fifteen percent of the runic capacity is in use right now. Of interest: they are also indestructible. See the ethereal quality of that material? They are only partly matter."

She led them down a hallway to what the 11th century idea of a very large computer would look like.

"This device controls and routes much of the power of Hogwarts. It can configure the wardstones you see, there are other wardstones and remote processors it is also magically connected to, and it actually has far more computing power than muggle supercomputers will in twenty years. It has operated flawlessly for nine centuries now. My magic is directly connected to this device and I completely control it. I show you this, because I want you to know how much power you have at your disposal to protect this castle."

They walked back to the original anteroom, and sat down again.

"Here's why I'm telling you all of this. There are currently two death eaters residing in this building. Not one, but two. One of them is an animagus masquerading at a rat in the first year Gryffindor dorms. The actual wraith of Voldemort himself is stuck in a teacher. There is a terrible artifact stored here in the castle as well, one I cannot bring myself to speak of. I cannot ask you to do anything about the educational quality of this school, though you have other resources to deal with that.."

She sniffled and a tear fell from her eye. A glittery, magic filled tear.

"Although I am the embodiment of the magic of Hogwarts and I am sentient, I am not designed nor permitted to take proactive action to protect this castle. That role is, and always has, been delegated to the Founders and their heirs. Any commands _must_ come from them, or in their absence, the headmaster to a lesser degree. As the years of the Founders have become more distant, headmasters seem to have lost sight of that aspect of their duty. This one may be the worst yet.

"I know every dark person in this school, every dark artifact, even many of the dark plans, and am able to do nothing whatsoever about any of them. The headmasters do not listen because of their own ambitions and do not care as I do about the protection of the school. Please, Harry. You're the first Founder's Heir who has come here in centuries who has given me any hope at all. Please fix this."

She paused to collect herself.

"I will be available whenever I'm needed. I will assist as much as I can. The wards are almost infinitely configurable and through me you have complete control over them now. I do not expect immediate results, for I am aware there are other considerations outside the purview of Hogwarts. But do not let me down, Harry. Hogwarts is counting on you. And because I derive my sentience from magic, Yeshua and the Creator are also counting on you. If there is something you need from the castle, do not hesitate to come to me. I have shown you how much magic is at your disposal. It is all yours if you need it. All of it. But please, don't let this continue. I beg of you… fix this."

She turned in shock as another person appeared next to her. He was a middle eastern man in his mid-30s, wearing what appeared to be modern casual muggle clothes. She immediately fell to the ground, not daring to say a word. The new arrival picked her up and set her on the chair. Hogwarts itself was quaking at its presence, not just its female avatar, though it quickly settled back down.

"Yeshua! What - why are you here?"

He smiled. "Why else would I be here, dear Hogwarts? I'm here to answer your prayer. Even if it wasn't to me, I was still listening."

He turned to the two students. "Hermione Granger and Harry Potter, and their two adult counterparts. I bid welcome. My name is Yeshua, but I am known to most in your world as Jesus. It's a name the Greeks gave me. I much prefer Yeshua, but my name is who I am, not what you call me, so either is fine."

Hermione fainted. Harry's mouth gaped like a fish out of water. Voices in both of their heads said simultaneously "WHAT?". Yeshua tapped Hermione on her forehead and she woke back up. "Je - Je - you -"

He smiled. "Hogwarts has served me and magic well, and the four of you have served me and magic well and have great potential, but there are some things only I can explain and some help only I can give. Please don't stand on ceremony in my presence. I am here to help."

All three of the other people in the room nodded dumbly. He took a moment to conjure some water and drank. "Ah, water. One of life's most underrated pleasures, wouldn't you say?" He smiled.

"Harry Potter. Such a young child, having such a burden put on your shoulders, and not one you asked for. Forces out of your control have directed your life, even as a child. Even now your life is not entirely your own, as many different forces are demanding things from you that you should never be required to give." He shook his head. "Tell me, Harry. What is the foundation of magic?"

Harry struggled to find an answer. Finally he shrugged. "I don't know… sir?", he said, questioningly.

Yeshua sighed. "So many people think I'm vengeful, out to avenge the wicked and reward the pure… but who among us is pure? I guess I am, but…" he sighed. "Being respectful in my presence is a good idea, as it is in anyone's presence, but just call me Yeshua. Really. I don't mind.

"The answer to the question is sacrifice, Harry. All magic requires sacrifice. The sacrifice may be tiny, like the slight tiredness felt after sending a weak stunner, or the sacrifice might be a life, or even worse, a soul. The difference, Harry, between dark magic and light magic is related to sacrifice: whose sacrifice is being required? Are you sacrificing something of yourself for the good of others? Or are you demanding, or even causing, the sacrifice of others for your own benefit? Every single dark wizard that has ever existed, or frankly, even dark non-magical people, have demanded sacrifices of others that they are unable or unwilling to make for themselves."

Harry nodded, and Hermione soon after. That made a lot of sense.

"You have, in your scar, an artifact of the sacrifice of your mother. Her sacrifice is the reason that you didn't die as a child, but it is also the reason that your scar has such darkness inside it. The sacrifice of two people were demanded so that Tom Riddle could live out his silly fantasies of immortality." He shook his head sadly. "He never understood that demanding the sacrifice of others will always come back to bite you in the end. He still doesn't. Most dark wizards don't until it's too late for them.

"But there are others who are demanding your sacrifice as well. They are those responsible for your not growing up in a loving home, as you should have. They believe, and may until their dying days, that your sacrifice is absolutely required so that the world may be saved. But the unwilling sacrifice of another _never_ saves the world. Even if it leads to the desired result in the short term, it only serves to increase the darkness in the long run. And often it doesn't even have the desired result in the short term. Ask your older selves. You were sacrificed. You won, eventually, but many died, many that did not need to and should not have."

He took another sip. "Do you know why I was given enough power to be called the Lord of Heaven and Earth?"

Harry spoke up. "Because your sacrifice was willing".

Yeshua nodeed. "Yes, but it was more than that. I willingly sacrificed myself, but I also willingly allowed myself to be sacrificed. Most of those who were killing me thought it was a righteous thing they were doing, but for them, it was the darkest of rituals - even for the non-magicals. Not only that, but because of my nature and the location of the sacrifice, it was a ritual that was so powerful that if it had gone wrong it could have caused the earth to explode. And that was in the _best case_. In the worst case…" he shivered. "There are some things even I don't want to contemplate."

He took another sip, seemingly glorying in the fact that the water just _existed_. It was almost as if he were grateful to it.

"But all was as it should have been, for it was ordained not to fail. Their darkest ritual made me more powerful than they can still even imagine, two thousand years later."

He leaned over to Harry. "Unfortunately, Even with that, I can't wave a magic wand and solve all your problems. Even were I to get rid of Voldemort this instant, your culture, and not only yours, has slid into selfishness and corruption. Which means…"

It then dawned on Harry what Jeshua was telling him all this time. "Sacrificing others."

Yeshua nodded. "Yes, exactly, that's it. Your Wizengamot has lost all pretense of governing for the common good. But I'm getting ahead of myself. There's something I have to take care of first." He reached over and touched Harry's scar, and pulled a blackness out of it. It didn't hurt, but felt like a large pressure on his head that suddenly released. The inky blackness was put inside an ethereal sphere. Harry felt much lighter almost immediately.

Six other nearly identical black blobs shot into the room from all directions, and all ended up inside the sphere. The blacknesses coalesced into the face of Tom Riddle, who was looking around frantically.

"Potter! I should have known! I will -"

"Silence", Yeshua said, with no trace of venom in his voice, but all authority. "Do you know who I am?"

"I don't care who you are! I'll destroy you -"

The atmosphere in the room got oppressive, and Riddle began to shrink to the back of his spherical prison.

"Tom Riddle, I am Yeshua, Lord of Magic, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and the ultimate magical and nonmagical authority in this universe. And you are here for judgement."

Riddle was actually shaking now, which was a little comical to see from a noncorporeal entity.

"Your soul has already been reintegrated, all of your little trinkets are for naught. I am sending you on. You will enter the afterlife, but you will be nothing but a shade, even there, until you have found every single person that you have killed, harmed, or threatened, directly _or indirectly_, and shown _true_ remorse for your actions. This is your fate. But it seems we have a prophecy to fulfill. Harry. Please, in my name, send him on."

And without even thinking about it, Harry said, "Tom Riddle, in the name of Yeshua of Nazareth, begone."

And Voldemort disappeared.

"He's gone, now. You've removed him from this world. If he had been allowed to continue to pursue his goals, the costs would have been - were - too high. A little orb in the hall of prophecies just went gray, and that's it."

"Just like that?", Hermione said, her voice shaky.

"Just like that. You know, Dumbledore had one thing kind of right. Everyone can be redeemed. But sometimes… their redemption has to happen… elsewhere. But that's what I'm in the business of, eh?" He chuckled to himself.

He turned back to his hosts… or guests? "That takes one burden off of you that should never have existed. But there are many other things in your world that need to be fixed. Some of them are very old and very entrenched in your society. Nonetheless, your world will never truly heal unless they are addressed. And I can't think of two better people to address these issues.

"I wish to speak with your older selves. Please allow them to come to the fore."

Harry and Hermione spoke almost at once, in a slightly different voice. "Greetings, Yeshua." they looked at each other. "We are very surprised to meet you," Hermione said, "but it is nice to meet you nonetheless. You did not show up in the last timeline when we met Hogwarts"

Yeshua smiled. "Remember what I said about sacrifice? You sacrificed everything in order to save your world, both of you. Your younger selves have no idea what you gave up, and you did it willingly. But… this situation will lead to more problems, as two souls living in the same body eventually can cause your magic to destabilize."

He sighed. "In one sense, you shouldn't even be here. It is an aberration and often souls crossing the barriers of timelines leads to nothing good. Time is truly not something to be messed with lightly, for simple mistakes or miscalculations can cause unexpected and often catastrophic consequences. But I recognize and respect the sacrifice you made to do the right thing as you saw it, and I know that it was as unselfish a sacrifice as one could ever expect. So, with that in mind, you have two options, and I will allow you to choose, in consultation with your younger selves. These are the only two options that I can offer, unfortunately, as all others would lead eventually to unwelcome consequences that I cannot allow to come to being.

"The first option is this: Your souls will be fully merged, however, the memories of the older instances of you will be erased. Your younger selves will have full access to all of the other gifts you have left them, but your memories will be permanently sacrificed. Essentially, you will die and transfer your power to them. I will tell you that this is another sacrifice on top of the one you have already made, and it will be a powerful one. The downside is that your younger selves will have no idea how the timeline would have turned out and must make their decisions with little counsel. However, I also point out that you have already sacrificed plenty and you are not expected to sacrifice more. Do not allow that to color your decision.

"The other option is this: I will create new identities for the both of you. You will be eleven year olds who have just started at Hogwarts. Everyone will have remembered your sorting - both of you will have been sorted into Gryffindor just like the last time. You will retain all of your memories, but your power and skills will be exactly like an average eleven year old. Since you sacrificed your power, skills, and magical strength, those will remain with your younger selves. You will be able to consult with them, teach them, and help them to avoid making the mistakes you made, but otherwise, you will be completely unremarkable, and if you are lucky and, shall I say, _Slytherin_ enough, you should have an uneventful time in Hogwarts and go on to live normal, uninteresting but fulfilling lives. I will point out that the magnitude of that which you have sacrificed has earned you that much. Again, you are not expected to sacrifice more than you already have.

"I do not demand your decision immediately. Please take as long as you need to decide. Both of these options have their positives and negatives, and communicating amongst four people through two bodies is, I imagine, challenging. Hogwarts and I will have a discussion in the meantime."

\- Champion -

After some time consulting awkwardly with each other. Hermione cleared her throat. "Um… Mr. Christ?"

Yeshua turned to them, momentarily forgetting his quiet conversation with Hogwarts, and for the first time since they met him, he actually laughed, A full-throated belly laugh that caught them all by surprise. Hermione's face turned red and she looked like she was going to faint again.

He put up a hand. "No no no, no need to be embarrassed… it's just… everyone thinks that's my last name. If it's anything, it's a title. Jesus THE Christ. 'Christ' means 'savior'. I still can't figure out why they think 'H' is my middle initial. If you want to call me Mr. Anything, just call me Mr. Carpenter. After all, that's what I did before the ritual. But I'd prefer just Yeshua. You're Anglican, right?

She nodded.

"Well, one thing that's really important to know about me is that I don't stand on formality. Everyone's always saying, or singing off key, "kneel" or "bow" or "genuflect" or "prostrate yourself" (and do you have any idea how many people mispronounce that?). But I'm here, and I'm also inside you. I know you better than anyone else. There's a time and a place for the formalities, but not here. Please, just Yeshua."

"Ok", she said. "Yeshua. Before we decide, we have a question."

"What is it?"

"What happened to the Death Eaters? Will we have to fight them?"

He chuckled. "Very good question. Exactly what I would have expected from my Hermione." She blushed prettily, as opposed to the deep shades of red she had turned earlier in the conversation.

"Put bluntly, they are all dead. They made their sacrifices too. They sacrificed willingly to the darkness, and thus, willingly gave him their power and their lives. When he went, he took theirs with him. There are no more Death Eaters."

She nodded. "Then we've decided. We will take the second option."

"And all four of you are agreed on that?" He looked closely at them. "Yes, I see you are. It is done." He snapped his fingers. "Their souls are gone from your head, but trust me on this. While we are waiting for some guests to arrive, do you have any questions for me?"

They thought quietly. Harry spoke up. "Is Voldemort in hell?"

Yeshua frowned. "In a manner of speaking, I suppose. Many religious people will tell you that the opportunity for redemption ends in death, but that's not at all true. I'm not in the business of punishment. It is really nothing but revenge, and it is an artificially imposed consequence for something that's _already happened_. You can't change the past, so it's really not useful for redemption. No, he's in the afterlife, what you might call heaven, but he's not allowed to truly reap the benefits of the afterlife until he has learned the consequences of what he did in this life. He will continue in that manner until he's truly remorseful. At which point, he will be judged to have been redeemed and will move on, where he will be accepted by those who have already made peace with their pasts and those they have hurt. For him, I cannot think of any worse hell, but it's not punishment, and even though it may take eons, eventually, he'll come around. There are many people he owes at least a debt of a sincere apology to and his consequences will last until he has found and sincerely apologized to each one. I don't do punishment, but I do justice. You'd do well to remember that."

Harry nodded, and dropped his head, unshed tears brimming.

Yeshua softened. "I know about the Dursleys, Harry. They are, in their own way, as dark as any magical person ever was. I know you'd like to see them burn in hell, and honestly, I can't blame you for that. You're only human, after all. But take comfort in this, Harry: I know. I know when a sparrow falls to the ground. I know when an ant is stepped on. Every death pains me, Harry, every abuse, particularly of a child, hurts me more than you can possibly know. I can't intervene in everything for many different reasons, even though I wish I could, but no one escapes me, Harry. Everyone meets me in the end, and sometimes what they meet is not the friendly person talking to you now. I _am_ the King, Harry. Vengeance is not yours, but believe me, _I know_. Justice will be served. It always is. No one gets away with it in the end. Have faith in me."

Harry was now openly sobbing and Hermione was comforting him. Finally Harry got up and ran to Yeshua, who held him while he sobbed. Yeshua stroked his hair, while Hermione watched, a little gobsmacked to see Harry in the arms of a person she had been taught to fear most of her life. Finally Harry sniffled a little, and wriggled out, embarrassedly walking back to his chair.

Yeshua smiled. "Hermione, I am more than you were taught. Much more. You will learn that. But as for now, know this, you and Harry. I am always here, in you. I am always available to you. All you need is to believe, and ask."

They both nodded as one, and Harry wiped his eyes with his sleeve. There was a knock on the door. The door opened on its own, and two eleven year old children walked in.

They looked around the room curiously. One was a small, pretty, black haired girl of East Asian descent, and the other was a brawny sandy haired young man who had obviously done a lot of manual work. They took stock of the four residents of the room, and the girl spoke up, in a voice with a somewhat pronounced Japanese accent.

"Where is this? Why are we here? We were both called here by… by… we don't know."

The boy nodded. "We just felt like we needed to come here".

Yeshua smiled, and stood up. First he looked at the girl. "_Iesu desu. Hajimemashite. Doozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu_."

Her eyes widened. "_Hontouni? Sumimasenyo. Ichikawa Kamiko desu. Hajimemashite. Doozo Yoroshiku onegaishimasu_", she said, and bowed deeply. Yeshua returned the bow in kind.

Then he looked at the boy. "My name is Yeshua. It is good to meet you."

The boy drawled "John Paul Miller at your service." His accent was American, but Harry and Hermione had a hard time placing it. Maybe Texas?

"As for why you are here, allow me to explain. But first", and he snapped his fingers. Realization dawned as memories started flooding back. "I was Hermione", Kamiko said, in wonder. John responded "And I was Harry."

Kamiko looked around in wonder. "And my English… is so much better now."

"But you aren't anymore. Let me explain. I'm sure you remember what happened up until the moment I snapped my fingers the last time. Ichikawa-san, twelve years ago your parents left a prayer on a shrine asking for a child. They had been unable to conceive for years and were feeling as if they would never have the one thing they had always wanted. John, it was a similar thing for your parents. I answered both of their prayers. I sent your souls back eleven years and you were born as normal children in normal families. You may have memories you weren't aware of before, but you are Ichikawa Kamiko and John Paul Miller in absolutely every way."

Hermione thought. "Kamiko. Child of God."

Kamiko smiled. "Yes. My parents named me just that. They knew I was an answered prayer."

Hermione thought. "Yeshua, how did you snap your fingers now and make something happen eleven years ago?"

Yeshua chuckled. "Time... have you ever stopped to consider that your perception of time exists because your brains are temporally constrained? Mine isn't. I am also the lord of time. This is one reason why it is dangerous for humans to play with time. The very fact that you think there are timelines belies your ignorance on the matter. As a wise person will say in the future, time is made of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey... stuff. Just accept that the world is not how you think it is. You will learn this in far more detail in the near future, my bundle of questions."

Hermione blushed again, but she was growing more comfortable with his presence.

Yeshua smiled. "One more piece of business and I must take my leave. I will then leave the four of you to catch up. Harry, I have chosen you as my champion. I am giving you authority to invoke judgement in my name. I want to be clear - this is not a license to kill or take vengeance. You must allow me, as magic, to do the actual judging. And sometimes it may not turn out as you expect. But a part of this authority is the authority over all magic within the realm of Great Britain, and a lesser amount of authority worldwide. I will allow you to find out what these things mean for yourself. I am entrusting you with a significant amount of power, even by my standards. Do not abuse it or I will take it away, and we will be having words, and not friendly words either. I will not have you falling to the darkness. Am I clear?"

Harry nodded. He did not trust himself to speak.

"And now, I must take my leave. Hogwarts, it was good to see you as always. I hope our talk was fruitful."

Hogwarts curtsied politely. "And you, my Lord", she said, demurely.

Harry, Hermione, Ichikawa-san, John, it was good to meet you as well. We will be talking again", and he put his fist over his chest, "even if only in our hearts. Until later, for after all, it's not really goodbye, is it? Oh, and Harry? No harems. Just pick one. Okay?" And he faded out of view.

Harry turned beet red. "Harem? What?"

Hermione giggled.

Hogwarts smiled. "I think I've had all I can take for one day. I will need to think upon the events of today. I look forward to seeing you again, Harry, I now have absolute faith that you can do what's needed. You have indeed been given the authority to fix the problems, and are indeed an answer to prayer. Come see me whenever you like, and I hope it's soon. Oh, one more thing. You can ask this room to be anything you like. But to see me, you have to ask for the Heart of Hogwarts. And for now, I have locked the room so that only you four can use it. See you soon!" She waved, and also faded out of view.

The four young people looked at each other, pretty much shellshocked.

Hermione spoke first. "What say we go to bed and meet here tomorrow night? Let's see how all that has transpired today shakes out first. I think that's plenty for a start."

Harry said "I agree… but."

All of the others wondered what he was going to say.

He turned towards the newcomers, Kamiko and John. "I realize today was probably quite a shock to you. And I know that you have a lot of memories you probably haven't quite figured out what to do with. But I want to give you my solemn promise, and I think Hermione will agree: you would be a big help to us if you were to help us with your newfound knowledge, but we won't demand it. You can go back to your lives as if you never met us, and there will be no hard feelings. I think the parts of you that are me and Hermione would agree with that. You - or they - have sacrificed enough, and if you want, you can just live out your lives in peace." He held up his hand. "Don't decide now, though, okay? Take your time. But if you want to help make the world a better place, you'll always have a place with us. We will do our best to make sure you're kept out of the limelight as much as possible. That.. is now our job, it seems."

Kamiko and John looked at each other, then at their counterparts. "It seems… that we've been offered an adventure."

John replied "Yep. And I've always loved me a good adventure."

Harry smiled. "Well, just come here tomorrow after dinner if you want to be in on it. Otherwise, no hard feelings, and you're welcome to join us whenever. But one important thing: This is a secret. You cannot tell anyone what you saw today. This is not a command, but a fact, I will the events of today to be a secret, and you are unable to talk about them to anyone but us."

They nodded. "Wakarimasu… I mean, I understand", Kamiko said, and John said "yep, what she said, waka-whatever." Kamiko glared but there was no malice, in fact, a small smile tugged at her lips.

And the four tired preteens left the room and went off to their dorms. They were surprised to find that only a half hour had passed. They passed a bit of a commotion in the halls as they went back, but were too sleepy to care. All four slept restlessly, but knew that their world would never be the same from that day forward.

A/N: I'm going to stop this chapter here, at twelve thousand words. I realize that I have posted some stories in the past where I post one chapter, and then everything stops. I don't think that will happen this time, as the muse has struck me so strongly on this one that I'm actually writing myself notes and staying awake because ideas on how to proceed keep running through my head. I was going to wait to post the whole thing until I had it fully written, but this chapter stands well on its own. I could have broken it into several chapters, but to be frank, I want to see what kind of reception this gets before I proceed too much on it. It's not that I'm going to change it to any significant degree, it's more that I want to know if I should just not bother posting the rest of it if it's going to inspire too much hate. Do you know what I mean? I don't mean at all "review or I won't continue", it's more like, "if people hate it that much then I just don't want to put myself through it." So if you like it, please, tell me what you think. And if you don't, constructive criticism is welcome. Just don't start a holy war over it. Please?

Don't expect another chapter for a couple of weeks. I have a lot of fallout to write, and Harry hasn't even started flexing his muscles yet. Things are gonna get real. Yes, Voldemort's gone, but as both Yeshua and Hogwarts said, there are problems with their society that won't get fixed with the removal of a dark lord and his followers.

And yes, I know, towards the end, the kids didn't do a lot of talking. Be honest - would *you* have?

Changelog: 8/1/19: I added some dialog and description. I did not change any important details of the story. There is a bit more foreshadowing, now that I know how it ends. :-)

8/21/19: Fixed McGonagall's name, and since some people seem to be a sucker for punishment, made it absolutely clear what this story is about. I don't know if I could make it any clearer if I had flashing neon lights and a huge sign saying THIS MIGHT OFFEND YOU. That's not an option on FanFiction, unfortunately.


	2. Justice

Harry Potter and the Champion of Yeshua - 2

A/N: You may not like all of this chapter if you feel that all death eaters deserve hell. In many cases, I thought of something even worse, but in all cases, I went for justice, not vengeance. Please remember that.

**The Death Eaters Face Justice, and the Fallout Begins**

**Justice: Lucius Malfoy**

Lucius Malfoy found himself in a comfortable room, by himself. There was a desk with a door behind it. The desk was clear of any papers or decorations other than a nameplate: "Death". The door opened, and a man of middle eastern descent, in his mid 30s came through, dressed in casual muggle fashion. He sat down in the chair, and peered over at Lucius, who was feeling a little apprehensive but still retained a stoic and regal appearance, as all Malfoys were trained to do. Both were silent for a little while, Lucius not daring to speak, and the man he knew as "Death" appearing contemplative.

"Lucius Malfoy", he finally spoke. "Husband of Narcissa Malfoy nee Black, father of Draco, son of Abraxas. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I was an upstanding member of pureblood society, and contributed to many charitable causes. I cared for my wife and son, and made sure that they had the best of everything I could offer them."

Death nodded. "All true. You did all those things, and your family was important to you. But what about the political corruption you were involved in, the trapdoor in your drawing room floor, or your dungeons?"

Malfoy paled significantly.

"I know everything about your life, Lucius. I know the good, and I know the bad. The good was good, but the bad was very bad. You put forth the appearance of an upstanding and righteous member of society, and for the most part, you succeeded. Sure, a few people suspected your true nature, but you are a slippery fellow and they could prove nothing. But your true colors were always there, lurking beneath the surface, underneath the mask of respectability you wore in public.

"Thankfully for you, Lucius, I don't do punishment. You're not going to hell, though you shouldn't be too relieved about that just yet. Many times, justice is worse. What about the non-magical women that you, to put it charitably, abused? What am I to do about the dark artifacts and curses you used against others to get what you wanted, even sometimes at the cost of the lives of others? What am I to do about the bribes that you spread around liberally in the name of 'charitable causes'?". I have many Death Eaters to judge today, Lucius, and you are one of the worst, not because of your direct actions, but because your considerable acting skills allowed you to get away with far more than most of the others with few consequences. I can't send you on just yet. So what to do, what to do…" He steepled his hands thoughtfully.

Lucius was shaking now, but asked hopefully, "Maybe we could just let bygones be bygones?"

Death appeared to give that thought some consideration. "Sure, we could do that. That would surely make my job easier, and I'm sure you'd like to weasel out of justice in death just as you have in life. But that wouldn't be justice, would it? I don't do punishment, Lucius, but I _must_ do justice. And what justice would it be if I just let you move on, with the souls of all of the people you have hurt crying out to me for vengeance? How would that be fair to them?"

"Are you talking about those muggle women I used? Who cares if it's fair to them. They were just animals. You know -"

"THEY WERE NOT ANIMALS", Death said, raising his voice for the first time. "They were people, just like you. In fact, they were more people than you were. And I heard their cries, their begging, their pleading, even when you hardened your heart and did what you wanted with no consideration for them because you were too busy satisfying your 'baser needs'. But thank you for that outburst. Now I know what to do with you."

He stood up.

"Lucius Malfoy, I render judgement on your life. You will relive the moments in which you ever hurt, killed, threatened, or abused someone, and that includes your house elves - in their bodies. You will feel everything they felt, and know every thought, even as if it were happening to you, until death mercifully claims them. Then you will move on to the next. After that debt has been repaid in full, we will have another discussion, and we will see if your attitude has changed. I suspect it will have, and then we shall have a considerably more pleasant conversation. Justice will be served, and yours starts now. Begone.", he said, and Lucius disappeared.

**Justice: Bellatrix Lestrange**

Bellatrix Lestrange found herself sitting in the same room as Lucius did previously, but there was no desk this time, only two comfortable chairs. She sat for a while, wondering what was going to happen to her. Now that she was dead, the effects of all of the rituals, potions, and other mind-altering magics were gone, and she was thinking clearly for the first time in years. She remembered all she had done in the name of "her" Dark Lord, and she was repulsed. She was actually shaking, knowing that things were not going to go well for her here in the afterlife, which is where she supposed she was as there was no more dark mark on her forearm.

A man walked in, a man of middle eastern descent in what appeared to be his mid 30s. He sat down in the chair across from her, and crossed his legs.

"Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black.", he said, without preamble.

She couldn't even raise her face to meet his.

"I know all that you did, Bellatrix. I know that you cursed the Longbottoms into insanity. If I weren't me, I would have lost count of the number of people you hurt, tortured, or killed. You were feared and loathed, and I know of at least one person who will be disappointed that you were found dead, if only because he never got the chance to do it himself."

She sniffled. "Look, I did all these things, and I'm so, so sorry. I wasn't in my right mind."

He nodded. "No, you speak truth. You weren't. You would never have done any of those things on your own. You were such a bright and inquisitive child, talented too. Then your family inked a marriage contract with your husband - I hate marriage contracts, by the way, and this is why - and from the very night you were married, he proceeded to abuse, drug, potion, and spell you, to the point where you lost your mind. Then Tom Riddle marked you, and you were truly lost to the world, for his magic was terrible and great. By the time you were put into Azkaban, there was little earthly hope left for you. And Azkaban only made it worse - what an abominable place!"

She couldn't help but nod at that last statement. She felt that perhaps she had deserved Azkaban, but it was a place specifically designed to torture prisoners. There was no other way to describe it.

He reached over and lifted her chin with his finger so her eyes met his. "I don't do vengeance, Bellatrix. I do justice. You have many debts to pay, but you will not pay them. Your debts will be paid by those who did this to you, and not by you. I absolve you of everything you did after marrying Rodolphus, and for anything you did before, I absolve you of that too, because I consider what you endured to be more than sufficient to satisfy the demands of justice. You are free to move on to the afterlife. Find the people you hurt, and apologize to them, and then you are free to enjoy all of the benefits of those who are justified in my eyes. Do not be afraid of people you meet. The ones who are in the afterlife have already paid their dues and learned the lessons their justice was intended to teach them. It may take time in some cases, but they will forgive."

Tears brimmed in her eyes. "You… forgive me?"

He nodded. "Yes. Justice must be served, but you were not responsible. You are declared innocent."

A door appeared in the wall.

"Walk through that door, and it will take you to the afterlife. I forgive you, dear Bellatrix, but try to forgive yourself, okay?"

She stood up, nodded, impulsively hugged the man who had never told her his name, then slowly opened and walked through the door, as if she couldn't believe that she was actually treated fairly. After the door closed, he called an angel.

"Yeshua, what can I do for you?", the angel said, with a deep and booming voice.

"Watch over her", Yeshua said. "Her soul is still broken. Help her to heal. I will introduce my true self at the appropriate time."

The angel bowed. "It shall be done.", and disappeared. Yeshua shook his head. The evil that people do…

**Justice: Peter Pettigrew**

Peter Pettigrew found himself in a similar room as Malfoy did. One moment, he was sleeping peacefully as a rat, the next he felt himself expanding back into a human and everything went black. He cowered back in his chair, trying to turn back into a rat, but found it impossible.

After what seemed to be a very long time, the door opened, and Peter jumped. A man of middle eastern descent who appeared to be in his mid 30s walked through the door, and sat down. He stared at Peter, who was now trembling.

"Peter Pettigrew", he said, with little malice in his voice. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Peter continued trembling. "Please… have mercy… I didn't mean it…"

"LIES", the man known as Death roared. "I am compassionate to those who are truly remorseful, but you are a coward. You willingly sacrificed your life and magic to a man who had no respect for you whatsoever just so that you could finally feel as if you had some power, and then you willingly betrayed people who considered you their best friends, James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin. Because of you, Harry Potter lost his parents, Sirius Black was thrown - without a trial, might I add - into the closest thing to hell mankind has ever created, and even though you knew all this, you hid as a rat in a family that had no idea who you were and what you had done. You had ten years to come clean, and you never did. And let us not forget about the thirteen non-magical people you killed that day. I will accept no pleading or cries for mercy from you until justice is done, because no cry for mercy from you has ever been sincere. You are not getting out of it this easily. Of all the Death Eaters out there, you are one of those that I am the most angry with. At least they are honest with me. You, even now, seek to play on my emotions and manipulate me. You tell me you didn't mean it and ask for mercy, but you were in some ways the most loyal of all the Death Eaters, weren't you?"

He stood up, and Peter cowered.

"Peter Pettigrew, I have passed judgement. You will experience the life of Harry Potter, from one day before he defeats Tom Riddle until the day before he attends Hogwarts. Every beating, every insult, every punishment he receives from his relatives, you will experience as your own. This is because you were the ones who caused his parents to die and for him to be placed with them.

"But this does not discharge your debt, because there are others you have hurt. So after that, you will spend ten years in Azkaban as Sirius black, experiencing the dementors just as he did. Every insult from the jailers, the hunger, everything will be as if you are experiencing it yourself."

Peter snivelled. "No, Ple-", and he was magically silenced.

"You are trying my patience, Peter. You must learn the consequences of your actions. After those 20 years have passed, we will have another conversation, and hopefully our next conversation will be more pleasant. If not, we will pursue further corrective action until you understand the gravity of what you have done, and I promise you, it will _not be pleasant_. Get out of my sight." And Peter disappeared.

**Justice: Severus Snape**

Severus Snape also found himself in a similar room as Malfoy did. He knew his time was up, so he waited patiently for the door behind the desk to open. Truthfully, he didn't know what was going to happen - in his mind, he had done some very bad things, but he had also done what he thought was some good things, so he thought that maybe he had redeemed himself sufficiently to not get into too much trouble.

Finally, the door opened, and a man of middle eastern descent, appearing to be in his mid-30s, stepped through the door and sat down at the desk. His eyes bored into Snape's eyes, but Snape trusted his occlumency, and didn't flinch. He was surprised, though, when he felt no probe.

"Severus Tobias Snape", he said, quietly.

"That is my name", he responded, steadily. "And you are?"

"Right now, you can call me Death. My job is to decide your fate in the afterlife. As I tell everyone who meets me here, I don't do revenge, but I do justice. Sometimes justice is worse, though," he said, almost as an afterthought.

"So, Severus Snape. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Snape thought for a few moments, and the man known as Death simply waited patiently. "I think I've made many mistakes in my life, and there are many that I regret. I have tried my hardest to make amends for them as best I knew how. But ultimately… I think I failed."

Death nodded. "I am pleased to see that you truly do regret many of your mistakes. In fact, of all of the Death Eaters I've had to judge, you are one of the most remorseful. All of this speaks well of you. But the problem here is that you don't even know what half of your mistakes were, and the things that you truly should be regretting, you do not. You thought you loved Lily Evans, but you were obsessed with her. You were so obsessed with her, in fact, that when you found out that the man that you had pledged your allegiance to reneged on a promise that you would have her to yourself, you switched sides. You never truly regretted your service to Tom Riddle - you instead regretted the fact that you chose to serve someone who took something away from you that you wanted. You regretted your service to him because he crossed you, not because you stopped believing in his goals."

Snape lowered his eyes.

"But you're right, you did fail, but not for the reason you thought. For you did not become a spy for the light, you became a spy for two dark lords. You left the services of the Gryffindor one, and you became a spy to the Slytherin one."

Snape's eyes snapped up. "Gryffindor -?"

Death chuckled, but without mirth. "Tom Riddle had his cunning moments, but most of the time he just charged into situations with only minimal planning and trusted the skills of his followers and himself. As he was in some ways a very powerful wizard, that worked out for him more often than not, but he was feared for his cruelty and power. A true 'Slytherin', as you would see it, would work from the shadows and the world would never know what hit it. Riddle never had the patience for that kind of subtlety.

"Dumbledore, however, is just as dark as, or darker than Voldemort ever was. You see, a dark wizard is not defined by the kind of magic they use, a dark wizard is defined by how they treat and use people. Dumbledore arranged behind the scenes for the unwitting (not even unwilling) sacrifice of those that followed him, and in fact, many that don't. So you weren't making amends as much as you just switched which darkness you preferred to follow.

"People followed Dumbledore because they thought he was of the light. And how many died for his 'Greater Good', while he still lives. Dumbledore's followers are following a dark lord, and _don't even know it_. _That_, Severus, is a Slytherin.

"So that being said, Severus Snape, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Severus did not trust himself to speak, so he did not.

"I see. Your silence speaks well of you. It is more difficult to determine just for you than most, because you do truly have remorse for some of your actions. I have taken that into account. Nonetheless, justice must be served."

He stood up.

"The consequences of your life will be as follows: You will experience the life of Harry Potter from the time of his being left with his non-magical family until the day before he arrives at Hogwarts. You will experience every slight, every beating, every abuse that his relatives heaped on him as if you were him. This is because you were the one to run to your 'master' with the part of the prophecy that you knew, that caused him to target the Potters and for him to lose his parents. And it is also because, even now, you harbor an irrational hatred of the boy that has never had even the remotest shred of foundation in reality.

"After you have experienced this, you are then to find every single Hogwarts student that you have ever unjustly treated and sincerely apologize for your behavior. You are, perhaps, the single biggest reason that your Ministry is as ineffectual as it is, and the least you owe the students you abused is an apology.

"After that, I will consider your debt paid, and we will have a much more pleasant conversation, depending on what you have learned in that time."

Snape did not raise his eyes. He mumbled to himself, "I deserve no less."

The man known as Death smiled. "Understanding that is the first step to repentance, Severus. Again, that speaks well of you. But you do understand. Justice must be served. It begins now. Begone." And Snape disappeared.

**The Fallout Begins**

**Office of Albus Dumbledore**

Albus Dumbledore was in his office, absently sucking on a lemon drop. Oh, all the students thought he was the greatest wizard of the age - and surely he was - but being Headmaster also involved placating parents, dealing with budgets and personnel problems. Most of the personnel problems involved Snape, if he were to be honest, there was not one member of the staff nor students that could do anything but tolerate him, and most barely at that, but he was required for Dumbledore's plans to come to fruition. So he was doing some paperwork after dinner when Fawkes suddenly squawked, and the castle rumbled.

Dumbledore checked the wards and found nothing amiss, but there seemed to be abnormal power usage around the seventh floor, and he stood up to check it out.

The voice of Hogwarts, which he had only rarely heard, echoed throughout his office. "Headmaster. Please do not be alarmed. There are events of great significance occurring. Please stay where you are for the moment. Your interference would cause significant difficulty. You will be notified when the situation is resolved. I repeat: do not be alarmed and stay where you are. Thank you."

Dumbledore bristled. He was headmaster! Hogwarts couldn't tell him not to investigate a situation that might involve the safety of the school! He walked over to the door and pulled. It did not open. He cast every unlocking spell he knew, and it did not open. Frowning, he tried to apparate. Nothing. He called a house elf. None arrived. He even asked Fawkes to take him to the seventh floor, and Fawkes did the bird equivalent of shrugging. Even the floo was disabled.

The aged Headmaster sat back in his chair and sighed. This was not good. The least intrusive thing that he could imagine was the appearance of a Founder's Heir. Oh well, might as well get some more paperwork done until the castle called the all-clear.

**Ron's Dormitory**

Ron Weasley came up to his common room, ready to go to bed, and saw a broken rat cage next to what appeared to be a sleeping man. He screamed like a girl. Percy ran up the stairs, took one look, and ran to get McGonagall.

A few minutes later, McGonagall arrived, took one look at the body and the smoldering dark mark it had, and sent a Patronus to Amelia Bones.

Amelia Bones and several aurors arrived a few minutes after through McGonagall's floo, as the headmaster's didn't appear to be working for some reason. She arrived in the dorm in a no-nonsense manner, and immediately started barking orders. "Auror Shacklebolt - this is now a crime scene. Take all of the information needed and move the body to the DMLE morgue. Professor, please initiate a head count."

McGonagall nodded and spoke clearly. "Hogwarts, please initiate a head count."

There was a brief pause, and the voice of Hogwarts spoke clearly. "All students accounted for. Two teachers are missing."

There was a sinking feeling in McGonagall's gut. "Hogwarts, please name the missing teachers."

"Severus Snape and Quirinius Quirrell".

Amelia immediately called for more Aurors. After all the evidence was taken, a shook up Ron was allowed to write a letter to his parents before he went to bed.

Amelia and McGonagall, along with the Aurors, went down to Snape's office in the dungeons. They found him dead, and his dark mark appeared to be smoldering. Amelia left the Aurors to do their thing and took some other Aurors to Quirrell's office.

Amelia waved his wand over Quirrell, who had no outward signs of damage. She sighed, and looked at McGonagall. "Failed possession. We'll take his body as well."

It was all over in a matter of minutes. All the bodies had been taken to the DMLE morgue, and no one was questioned as the cause of death was clear. Amelia was not aware that her night was about to get much worse.

**Dumbledore's Office**

Dumbledore was still doing paperwork when Hogwarts sounded the all-clear, and he found that he was allowed to leave his office again.

"Hogwarts", he said clearly. "What was the issue that required me to be unable to leave my office?"

Hogwarts replied, in a tone that was clear but a little frosty. "Sorry Headmaster. That information is classified."

"By whom?", Dumbledore asked, his irritation rising.

"Sorry Headmaster. That information is also classified."

"Hogwarts, I am in charge of the protection of this school. Please override the classification."

"That is no longer true, Headmaster. You are no longer in charge of the protection of the school. Override denied."

"Who is?"

"Sorry, Headmaster. That information is classified. Please continue your duties as Headmaster. Thank you."

Dumbledore sighed. Yes, Founder's Heir, at least. That would throw a monkey wrench into quite a few plans. Hogwarts' wards were left weak deliberately so that some of his plans for this year could come to fruition. He wasn't sure how just yet, but the bait had been set. All he'd need was a particular mouse to come sniffing around the trap.

McGonagall chose just then to knock on his door.

"Enter", he said.

She ran in, with Amelia Bones close behind. "Albus, were you aware that you had two marked death eaters and a possessed professor in this school?", Amelia asked, heatedly.

Oh, shite, he thought. He knew about Snape, but the others were a complete surprise. He had expected Voldemort to make an appearance at some point, but that particular detail had completely slipped past him.

"Amelia, my dear, I'm sure this is all just a misunderstanding.", he said in his best grandfatherly voice.

"Albus, there are three people in the DMLE morgue right now. Two of them had the dark mark, though we knew about Snape's involvement after you put significant effort into trying to convince us of his repentance, and one of them had a possession, we think by the spirit of Voldemort, that appeared to be violently ripped from him. We'll talk about why you either didn't know or didn't care about this situation at some other time."

Curse Hogwarts, he thought. He could have controlled this if he'd been able to leave his office. He could have persuaded Minerva to not call the DMLE and it could have all been swept under the rug. Oh well, nothing to do now. The thought crossed his mind that Hogwarts seemed to have deliberately kept him out of the situation, and that was more concerning. That would have meant that Hogwarts would have considered his interference to be a threat to the safety of the school.

Which, of course, it was. Though he hadn't figured that out yet.

Dumbledore didn't know how much power the school had at its disposal to defend itself, as he'd never been allowed to see the fabled "Heart of Hogwarts", but he knew it was an immense amount, and he'd just lost control of nearly all of it.

Well, nothing to be done now but damage control.

"Of course, Amelia. You may investigate as much as you need. My staff and I are at your service".

Amelia nodded. "I would expect nothing less. On a personal note, Headmaster, my niece Susan goes to this school, today was literally her first day, and I find your abrogation of responsibility appalling. I will most certainly be raising this with the Board of Governors and the Ministry. If this is the level of safety that my niece is to expect from her time at this school, I have half a mind to yank her out right now and send her to Bauxbatons. Or Salem. Or the Magical School of Anywhere But Hogwarts! Hell, I'd rather hire tutors for her than have to worry about this level of incompetence!"

A patronus appeared and said something to Amelia. Her eyes widened. "Pardon me, Headmaster, professor, I must take my leave. I may not get much sleep tonight. It looks as if your three Death Eaters were only the beginning." She tossed some floo powder into the fireplace and left immediately.

"Minnie - "

"Don't ya Minnie me, I oughta take ye' over my knee and spank ye' meself, ye' old coot!" She took a moment to breathe. "I've told you year after year that Snape was damaging this school and you never listened. I've told you that the wards needed to be upgraded to detect threats to the school. But you never listened, did you, you barmy tosser! Do you know who one of those death eaters was? Ronald Weasley's pet rat! That rat should never have gotten through the door. Amelia's right, either you didn't know, or you didn't care, and if Amelia doesn't raise this with the Board of Governors, I might meself!"

Dumbledore sighed, looking older than his years. "Minerva, if I am correct, none of that will matter anymore, for it has been taken out of my hands. Hogwarts has taken back control of the protection of the school. That is no longer my responsibility. I don't know why."

"Well, I do, and you just proved it. You can't be trusted with it. Maybe now some common sense will prevail and we can get back to being a school where people actually learn things instead of worrying about the dark lord du jour coming in and killing people without us ever seeing it coming. Hell, two of his representatives and he himself were already here!"

Dumbledore flinched. When she put it that way...

He took a moment to compose himself after that admittedly very well executed, and he had to admit to himself, probably deserved, verbal beatdown. "Well, Professor, for the time being, I'm still headmaster, and you're still deputy headmaster, and we have two new teachers to find, on very short notice. Usually the DADA teacher lasts more than a day. Classes are cancelled tomorrow, I will announce it at breakfast. I daresay there will be no complaints from the children. Please call a staff meeting for tomorrow after breakfast, and think of people who we can bring in on short notice. We'll need to act fast."

McGonagall nodded. "That's the first thing you've said tonight I agree with. Staff meeting. Tomorrow, after breakfast. Oh, and Dumbledore…"

He waited for her to finish her thought.

"If my theory is correct, we may have a lot of students as of tomorrow morning who will have lost their parents. We need to make sure they know before they read about it in the paper or from their friends. You would be well advised to keep in contact with the DMLE and find out who exactly is affected so we can preserve even a modicum of dignity. If they are in the Great Hall when the news becomes widely known, even if through rumors, then both of us will rightly have a lot to answer for with a lot of people."

"You don't think -"

"Yes. I think, somehow, Voldemort was ripped from this plane and took all his followers with him."

"That can't be… it just can't be… I've worked too hard..."

"Be that as it may, be prepared for the eventuality. I'll help you deal with the fallout. But don't say you weren't warned. If you want to keep your job, Albus, you'll make sure this is handled properly."

Dumbledore nodded, at a loss for words.

"I'll see myself out", McGonagall said primly, and did just that.

Dumbledore sat at his desk, shell-shocked. Even though he considered himself to be a light wizard, he knew that he had forced many people to make many sacrifices so that his plans for destroying Voldemort would come to fruition. If McGonagall was correct, and Voldemort and his followers were destroyed that night, it would mean that all of the sacrifices that he engineered of the Dursleys, of the Potter boy, Sirius Black, Snape, and many others would all be for naught. He considered the demise of Voldemort to be worth those sacrifices, but if they were for naught, as he was beginning more and more to believe was the case, then he had a lot to answer for.

He considered the ends to justify the means, but the ends had just disappeared. And considering the means had done nothing whatsoever to accomplish his goal, they were entirely wasted, and people would start asking questions, and honestly, he thought, rightly so. I buggered up royally.

It was time to cut his losses.

**The Great Hall - Next Morning**

It was a somber morning in the great hall, though most students did not yet know why. As some students walked in, a teacher stood up, asked them for a word, and led them out the door. They appeared to be mostly Slytherins, though there were a few from other houses as well. They did not come back. At about fifteen minutes before classes were to begin, an announcement resounded throughout the castle.

"All students, please come to the Great Hall for an important announcement. Repeat: All students, please come to the Great Hall for an important announcement. Thank you."

Students who had already finished their breakfasts filtered back into the room, and in about ten minutes, most students had arrived. All of the teachers were sitting at their places at the staff table, but two were missing.

Dumbledore stood up.

"Students and staff," he began, "It is my sad duty to announce the passing of two of our teachers: Professor Snape and -"

Half the room cheered, but McGonagall stood up and said "Another sound out of any of you and you'll be in detention with Filch for the rest of your natural lives!". The noise stopped immediately. She primly sat down.

"As I was saying before that boorish display of lack of decorum, it is my sad duty to announce the passing of two of our teachers: Professors Severus Snape and Quirinius Quirrell, who had been our Defense against the Dark Arts Teacher for all of one day."

He paused. "It is also my sad duty to announce that last night, many students lost one or both of their parents. As near as we can determine, everyone who had a dark mark, last night at about 8:30 PM, died. We believe Professor Quirrell died as the result of a failed possession by the wraith of Tom Riddle, also known as Voldemort."

The hall was dead silent.

"Many of you know these students and call them friends. I ask that you be there as best you can in their time of need, for it is in trying times such as this that the value of friendship is at its greatest."

Some students were openly weeping at that point, many from the Slytherin table. They had a pretty good guess as to who they were by who was missing.

"Classes are cancelled for today. Professor Sinistra will be acting Head of House for Slytherin. We do not yet have replacements for potions or defense teachers, as their loss was rather sudden, but we will have those ready as soon as we can."

He held his hand up. "I have one more announcement, and then you can go do what you need to do in these trying times."

"I have been headmaster here for over thirty years, and I have enjoyed working with all of my staff and have found my time meeting and guiding students to be the best years of my life. However, as of today, I have put my formal notice forward that I am resigning from the position of headmaster of Hogwarts, effective immediately."

Literally everyone in the room gasped, and the murmurs did not die down for a good minute. Even the staff was utterly gobsmacked, as he had not told any of them in advance.

"My reasons for resigning are my own, but I feel that Hogwarts would be best led by someone a little less… set in their ways… than I am. I think I may… travel the world. Or simply enjoy my dotage in a cottage by the sea. But I digress. I thank you all for your support and respect over the years. I shall now collect my things and be off. Remember, students, do what is right rather than what is easy, as I have learned the hard way over the years. Professor McGonagall will be acting Headmaster until a suitable replacement is found, and it would not surprise me at all if it were her. Hogwarts could not ask for a more capable Headmistress than her. As my parting words, I simply wish to say: nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak. Until we meet again, my friends." And he simply vanished.

Professor McGonagall's mouth was flapping like a fish out of water. She literally did not know what to say. It was so like him to vanish when the heat became too much to bear, but she had a job to do, no matter how suddenly it was put on her.

Shakily, she stood up, and walked up to the center podium.

"Well, um… ahem. He will be missed. Unfortunately, he is correct. Your friends will need you now, more than ever. Please use today to reach out to them. Dismissed."

Harry was walking out the door as Kamiko caught up to him. "Get Hermione and John. We need to go up to the room. Now."

They did so, and fifteen minutes later they were in the room, which was configured like a common room with four comfortable chairs.

"What did you need?", Harry said, curiously.

"I've been sorting through some of my memories, and there are two things you need to do, both of them today. You need to get to Gringotts as soon as possible, and then you need to destroy Azkaban."

"Azkaban?"

"It's a prison in the North Sea. It is host to a few more than a hundred of beings called Dementors, which can suck out your soul, but their effects are madness. All of the prisoners in England are kept there. Including innocent ones. There is one that is innocent and has been there for ten years."

"Dementors?"

She shivered. "I've never met one personally, but in the other timeline, you fought a hundred of them at once. They caused you serious damage because you remembered your mother getting killed. They should not exist."

John spoke up. "I agree. Y'all need to get rid of them as soon as you can. They're horrible varmints."

Harry nodded. "Why do I need to go to Gringotts?"

John answered that question. "You just killed off a number of lines by conquest. Hogwarts and the ministry are in disarray right now, but as soon as they get all the formalities out of the way, they're going to try to take that out from under you. You need to get there and make sure all of that's taken care of first. They can do a test that will figure out which lines belong to you and make your vaults more difficult for the Ministry to seize. They've done it before."

He looked at Hermione. "Do you see any reason why I shouldn't do these things today?"

She shook her head. Then she ran over and hugged him. "Just be safe, okay?"

He smiled. "I'm the Champion of Yeshua. I'm sure that's good for something." He changed his features slightly so that he would be less recognizable. "I'll let you know how it goes". And he disappeared.

**Gringotts**

Harry arrived on the front steps of Gringotts in Diagon Alley and quickly walked inside. He walked up to a teller.

"Who are you?" the goblin behind the counter asked gruffly.

"Harry Potter". He briefly let his disguise fall.

"Key."

"I don't have it."

"Come with me, then." They walked to a small conference room. "We will do a blood test, to ensure you are who you say you are."

After slicing his palm and allowing a drop of blood to land on a charmed parchment, the goblin read the parchment. HIs eyes opened wide.

"Well, you certainly are who you say you are, and more besides. Come with me, Champion."

Harry bristled. "How did you know that?"

The goblin smiled, an evil looking smile, but it was actually quite friendly for a goblin. "Your magic betrays you, Champion. Do not worry, as we know what the title means, and what powers it grants you. We could not harm you if the entire goblin nation were to attack you. Please, come with me."

Harry acquiesced and followed the goblin deeper into their facility. Finally after a maze of twisty little passages, all alike, they ended up in front of a room with two large golden doors, and four of the most intimidating goblins he'd ever seen guarding it.

"Stand aside", the goblin said.

"On whose authority?", one of the guarding goblins said, and none of them moved.

"Protocol 1", the goblin said tersely.

All four goblins sprang away from the door and knelt in front of him. "We're sorry, your lordship. We did not know."

The still standing goblin saw his confused look. "All will be explained shortly." He opened the door. "Please enter."

He entered and the door closed behind him. He was in the most palatial room he had ever been in. Everything inside it screamed wealth and royalty, from the plush chairs, to the Gringotts crest above the sturdiest desk he'd ever seen. And behind that desk was the oldest goblin he'd ever seen. The goblin rose.

"King Ragnok, at your service, champion", he said.

"Ki- ki -", Harry said stupidly.

Ragnok laughed. "Normally we hate wizards, human. You are the first to be granted an audience with me for hundreds of years. It is rather ironic, then, that I am actually having been granted an audience with you."

"How did you know?"

"Goblin magic is not human magic, Lord Potter, but it is magic nonetheless. We are a different sort of magical creature than wizards, and thus our magic is focused in a different direction than yours. Our magic is focused to war. Finding the weaknesses of those who would challenge us. And knowing when one who could utterly destroy us has come. You are the latter, Lord Potter. We respect power, and you are currently the most powerful wizard alive by several orders of magnitude, even though that only applies to embodied wizards."

Harry filed those last two words away for future reference. He was getting the feeling that the world worked in a very different way than most humans thought.

"Here, see this parchment", the King said, handing over a piece of paper.

It said:

_Harry James Potter_

_Son of James Potter, and Lily Evans._

_CHAMPION OF YESHUA, KING OF THE UNIVERSE_

_ABSOLUTE RULER OF MAGIC IN GREAT BRITAIN_

_Oh, and Lord of a bunch of houses, some by conquest, with lots and lots of money. You figure it out. I give up._

King Ragnok laughed as Harry handed the parchment back. "That is the first time our identification and inheritance spell has ever failed in that spectacular a manner, for as long I can remember. You inherited so many lines last night our charms can't keep up."

Harry chuckled. "I can see why that would give you fits. I am not here to cause trouble."

"Oh, I know. If you were, we would have immediately evacuated down to the mines. For all the good that would do us once you rooted us out with brute force and left nothing but smoking caves. Or worse, just unmade us with a word. We know who Yeshua is, Champion. We have our own lore, but a sacrifice that powerful can be neither ignored, dismissed, or disrespected."

"I'm actually here because last night, with some help, I vanquished Tom Riddle and took all of his death eaters with him. For those that are eligible, I am claiming their assets and lines by conquest. I wanted to get here before the ministry started to interfere."

"Oh, yes, Lord. We know. You should have heard the alarms go off last night as somewhere around fifty families abruptly had status changes. Magic verified the conquest, though since you're the lord of magic, who knows and we give up too. We've already done all the work, and for all of the eligible lines, including the Lestranges and MacNairs, we've already moved all of the assets into a vault owned by you and closed their vaults. For all of the lines with an active heir, magic still recognizes your conquest, but that only means that the heirs become vassals to your house. They still get to keep the assets unless they are disloyal. If the ministry tries to interfere, we're going to tell them to pound sand. Worst they can do is try to start another war with us. Worst you can do is wipe us from existence with a word. We know where to put our loyalties. Your vaults are safe. But a word of advice: be careful outside the doors of this building. They can get to you in other ways. Or they can try, anyway.", Ragnok said, a wry smile (for a Goblin) on his face.

"Just to be clear, Your Highness, if I abuse my abilities, I lose them, and a lot more besides. My mission is to remove darkness and bring balance back to the world. I am an instrument of judgement, but not of war."

The King nodded. "I understand. But who among us could withstand honest judgement? And what is war but judgement of the victor?"

Harry nodded. "Fair point. But I've seen how Yeshua deals with people. Even in judgement, he is fair. I would have sent Voldemort to hell. He was far kinder than I would have been, even though the judgement was still terrible. I cannot speak further of these secrets."

The King smiled his terrible goblin smile. "I think we have an understanding. Here is my promise to you, Champion. If you can root out the corruption in the wizarding world that has caused us to be enemies with your kind, I will work with my people for true peace with your kind, not just treaties and armistices. We are conquerors, but we are honorable. A dishonorable conqueror is naught but a barbarian, wouldn't you say? If your kind will treat us with honor, we will do the same. I vow it."

Harry smiled. "We have an understanding. As proof of my intentions, read the news tomorrow. Oh, and keep who did it to yourself. I'm trying to be all Slytherin here." He winked.

They shook hands. "By the way, Lord Potter - with your new conquests after last night, you are by far the wealthiest customer of our bank. Come by once the spells have had a chance to catch up and we'll give you a full accounting."

Harry nodded. "And you'll like what I do with it. I'll need every galleon. May your gold always flow, King Ragnok."

"And may your enemies fall at your feet. Goodbye, young Lord."

Harry walked out of the office, and was led to the front door by the teller goblin, who bowed courteously and walked back to his desk.

Harry walked out to the steps, and vanished.

**Azkaban**

Harry had masked his appearance so that no one could recognize his face or his magical signature, and arrived on the island of Azkaban. He looked up at the formidable tower and his eyes hardened. The dementors did not affect him, but he could feel their wrongness. Kamiko and John were right. This place needed to be destroyed.

His eyes narrowed as he heard the voice of Yeshua in his mind. "The dementors have already been judged. You do not need to invoke judgement. Destroy them."

He spoke quietly, but with authority.

"By the authority granted to me as the Champion of Yeshua, magic, heed my words.

All prisoners are to be returned to ministry holding cells. If there are not enough cells, the holding cells will be expanded so there are enough." And he knew it was done.

"All dead prisoners will be identified and the list will be placed on the head of the DMLE's desk.". And he knew it was done.

"Said dead prisoners will be moved to graves a half mile away." And he knew it was done.

"All aurors and other personnel are to be returned to the ministry". And he knew it was done.

"All dementors, come to me". And slowly, as a cloud, the dementors rose out of the top of the building, and approached him, stopping within fifty feet. He did not feel their effects, but he could feel the wrongness of them as they approached. These were not just dark creatures, nor were they just evil. They were demons that the ministry had somehow captured for their own uses. He could hear their rasping breath as they struggled to move away, but could not.

"In the name of Yeshua, begone."

And they vanished. Just like that. Only leaving their cloaks behind. The wrongness disappeared.

He made sure to stand far away from the building and erected an impenetrable ward around himself, just in case. And then he spoke again.

"Destroy this building so that not one stone is left standing upon another."

And with a mighty crash, the walls fell outward, leaving the central core relatively clean, having seen daylight for the first time in hundreds of years.

He flew to the middle of the core, and as he expected, there was more to the building than he thought. There was a basement. He opened the trapdoor, conjured a ball of light to move ahead of him, and went down the stairs. He found himself in a giant chamber, somewhat similar to the Heart of Hogwarts but quite a bit smaller, but it was corrupted somehow. All of the pain and darkness and despair had filtered its way down, had corroded some of the lines, and was beginning to infect the actual ley lines themselves. He made a note to find out where those lines led, because there were probably the breeding grounds of many dark creatures on those corrupted lines.

"Remove and seal the taps", he said, and after the taps removed themselves from the lines, the ethereal matter surrounding the lines sealed itself.

He placed a hand on the ethereal outside of the pipe, and felt the thrumming of energy moving through, and also felt the corruption. He willed the corruption gone, and it dislodged itself from the pipe. Before it could be washed away by the pure magic, Harry pulled it through, and found a sticky, dark substance dripping onto the floor.

"Begone, darkness. You have no place here." And the dark substance vanished.

He smiled, and went up the stairs to the top, and came out onto the flat surface of the core.

"The room I just left shall be emptied of all but the ley lines themselves, and filled in with dirt". He felt a rumble, and it was done.

"My last command, magic, is this: This building shall never, until the end of time, be reconstructed. This site will be left exactly as it is, forever, as a monument to the folly of wizardkind. Children for ages to come will be told stories about the English ministry harnessing demons to punish their prisoners. A curse will be upon anyone who tries to do so. So mote it be!"

And he vanished, back to Hogwarts. A few minutes later, Aurors arrived, and could not believe what they were seeing. Azkaban was literally a pile of rubble, and there was no magic to speak of. Anywhere.

A few minutes later, Amelia Bones found many more prisoners in her holding cells, a bunch of aurors who were frankly grateful they never had to do Azkaban duty again, and two notes on her desk. One was a list of all of the dead people that had been in their cells when Azkaban was destroyed. And the other was more personal. It said, simply:

_The abomination that was called Azkaban is gone. Not one stone is left upon another. The ministry shall never harness demons again to punish their prisoners. The site will never be rebuilt or disturbed, as it is a monument to the depravity of the British magical society. Create a humane prison and I will not interfere again, as there is a place for justice in any just society. Do not ever attempt to recreate Azkaban, for divine judgement shall be be invoked on all involved. This is your only warning._

_Heed my words, for they are the words of magic himself._

_The Champion of Yeshua_

A/N: And we're just getting started.

These are some scenes I wanted to write so so badly, I couldn't even sleep until I got them down. I spent all day writing this chapter, starting this morning. I wasn't even planning to, but I had to. But there's much more to do.

The destruction of Azkaban is a symbolic as it is anything else. It is the first public deed of the Champion. And it is only the first of many.

Also, please note that it is true that Christian theology states that those who believe in Jesus are forgiven. Please don't argue that aspect of theology should matter here. Remember, no death eater ever did, even if you count simply believing that magic is sentient and good. So I consider this to be (from my limited knowledge and understanding) a fairly accurate idea (broadly) of what would happen to people who went in front of him for judgement not knowing him and non-repentant, and in some cases, not knowing him and repentant. Note that in all but one case, none of them sincerely asked for forgiveness or regretted their actions (for the right reasons). They tried to justify themselves. The justice they will face is designed to knock that out of them. Hopefully it works. I also only did some of the more well-known death eaters. All of them got justice served, each in a way very much tailored to their crimes. MacNair's was particularly vicious...

8/2/19: Added some detail and fixed some grammatical problems.

8/21/19: Fixed McGonagall's name.


	3. The Judgement of Fudge and the Toad

Harry Potter and the Champion of Yeshua Chapter 3

A/N: Writing Yeshua is HARD.

Also, I'd like to make a quick statement: I am trying to do a very difficult thing here: I am trying to integrate Christian theology, Rowling's magical world, and a few other things in a way which is, at least from the reference point of the "mythologies" I'm using, believable. I'm writing Yeshua as I know and/or imagine him, but at the end of the day, all this is is a story. If you get greater meaning from it than that, please, be my guest, but that's all it is and all it is intended to be. Put another way, I'm telling a story, no preaching intended.

Please note: Kamiko's name is 市川神子 in Japanese. The family name is first in Japanese culture. She would be called Ichikawa-san in that case.

**Reflection**

**Hogwarts - Room of Requirement**

Two seconds later, before any of the children had a chance to speak, Happy popped back into the room. "It is done", he said. "Or it will be done, in about a half hour."

"Did anyone get hurt?", Hermione asked.

Harry smiled. "No one but a little over a hundred dementors. You were right, Kamiko. That place needed to be razed. Those dementors were actual demons - so bad that Yeshua told me they had already been judged and to just destroy them. The darkness was infecting everything. I imagine the ministry is - will - go nuts when their wards, before they blink out, record one person just standing there. I sent all the prisoners back to the Ministry. Hopefully they'll find a more humane way of 'correction'". His face hardened. "They'd _better_".

"We have about a half hour I think before things _really_ start hitting the fan at the ministry, and I want to be here until at least lunch. Hogwarts' wards probably did not register my brief departure as anything but a blip, and likely she'd never tell even if so, but I want an alibi. So let's talk, alright?"

Everyone nodded.

"Kamiko and John, I find myself at a disadvantage. You already know most of what there is to know about us, even if they are only memories to you. We don't know about you. Kamiko, tell us about yourself, please."

She pinked a little, which contrasted nicely with her skin tone, and pulled subconsciously at her robes. "I was born in Saitama, which is what you would call a suburb of Tokyo, though it is actually the capital of Saitama prefecture. My father is an executive in an automotive company, and my mother is a housewife. My childhood was good, my parents are strict as most Japanese parents are, but they are fair, and they made sure I was taught well. When they found out I was magical they immediately hired magic tutors in additional to shougakko - I mean primary school. When it became time to decide whether I would continue in the school system with tutors or go to a magical school, my parents decided to send me to magical school and hire tutors to help me to continue to learn Japanese. It is a very difficult language. Just like English."

Hermione said in spite of herself, "English is hard?"

"Oh yes", Kamiko nodded vigorously. "It is true that Japanese is a very difficult language, but we only have a hundred and some syllables, and most of the difficulty in our language is how to write and pronounce all of the different kanji, or symbols. There are thousands. It is true that there are only twenty-six letters in the English alphabet, but you have far more ways of saying them, and it's not obvious from looking at the word how to pronounce it. Like 'food' and 'good' for example. Same letters, completely different pronunciation. It's one of the hardest languages there is.

"I started to learn Japanese," Hermione said. "I did learn a few words. But it is so hard..."

Kamiko nodded. "I will teach you some if you'd like."

Hermione smiled widely. "Arigatou!", she squeed.

"Very good!", Kamiko said happily.

"Did you like growing up in Japan?", Harry asked.

She said simply, "It is my home. I love spring particularly - when the _sakura_ trees bloom and the petals fall to the ground, making the world a combination of red, pink, and white. It is a time of renewal and rites of passage."

Harry nodded. "I've heard of those trees, they are famous in Japan."

"_Hai_ , er, yes, they are. And Fujisan - Mount Fuji - is so beautiful, especially when it is clear and you can see for miles. I do like it here, though. Tokyo is full of cars and busses. The air is clear here. Very clean. And your lakes and mountains are beautiful. The _kami_ \- nature spirits here are strong. It may be the magic of Hogwarts. Perhaps your school would be interested in having a Japanese Gardens and Shrine. They are very peaceful and pure places."

Harry smiled. "I like that idea. Why don't you bring it up to the headmistress when you see her? If we choose the right time, maybe the Ministry would also like to help out with that effort. Not right now, though," he frowned. "We'll wait on that one for a bit. Let's shake up the Ministry a bit first.

She smiled. "I shall do that, Harry-_san_, when it is the right time," she said, and bowed respectfully.

He turned to John. "What about you? What makes you tick?"

"I'm from near Odessa, Texas," he drawled. "My parents are ranchers, they have thousands of heads of cattle and thousands of acres of pasture and farmland. I grew up learnin' the ranching business, as well as goin' to school. When my parents found out I was magical, they initially were very scared and reluctant because they're Bible believin' Church goin' Christians, but in time they came around. When it came time to decide how to study magic, they decided to send me here because they thought it would be good for me to be exposed to other cultures."

"Why were they scared?", Harry asked.

"Many people believe that magic is of the devil."

Harry shuddered. That may have explained something about his relatives. "Well, I'm glad they came around."

"So am I. Maybe someday I can tell 'em I met Yeshua in the flesh!"

"That time will come, John."

He nodded. "I know. For now, it hasta be a secret."

"What's Texas like?", Kamiko asked with undisguised curiosity. "In Japan we think about cows and cowboy hats and rodeos and BBQ"...

John smiled. "There's all that," he said, "the best BBQ around is in Texas! But what I loved most about Texas is the sky. It goes as far as you can see, and the land is completely flat. And sometimes the 'storms would mosey on through and there would be so much rain and wind and lightning… but then they'd be gone and everything smelled so good afterwards." He said wistfully.

"Maybe someday I can visit Texas", Kamiko said wistfully.

"Only if I can visit Japan", John said.

"Deal", she said, and they shook hands happily.

"So to the point, I have a plan", Harry said. "But I want your opinions. I want to change the world."

The other three listened intently.

"Okay, well here's how I see things right now. I've just been to Azkaban, and in about a half hour from now, maybe less now, it will be utterly destroyed. I razed it to the ground and salted the earth. But I found it quite disturbing that the ministry was willing to use demons - the dementors - so callously. They were even starting to pollute the ley lines, and if I hadn't done what I did, no one would have even noticed."

Hermione started. "Corrupting the ley lines? That's… that's…"

"I know", he said. "An abomination. In fact, sometime soon I'm going to figure out where those lines went and see if there's a dark creature infestation downstream. It wouldn't surprise me at all. But I removed the corruption and restored them. Even if there are dark creatures, they'll probably move elsewhere. But here's my plan, my idea. It seems to me that the statute of secrecy has to go."

Hermione spoke up. "Wha-?"

Harry held up his hand. "No, no, no. Not the way things are now. If we just dropped the statute of secrecy now, it would be bedlam. Even I'm not that stupid. But tell me, Hermione. What would be the best way to get mug- non-magical people to accept magic?"

She thought for a moment.

"I'll give you a hint. Why do they accept all of the devices they've created that would seem like magic to someone even two hundred years before?"

"Ahh!", she smiled. "To them, it's science. They feel like they control it!".

"Magic isn't science", Harry said. "It's true. There are some aspects of magic that will never be scientifically understood, because their power is derived from the sentience of the Creator, and Yeshua. But there are other aspects of magic that are not that way. Tell me, Hermione, how did people in the 11th century manage to build a supercomputer that is orders of magnitude more powerful than the most powerful supercomputers the nonmagicals have ever built? And even more importantly, _why have we forgotten how to do that_?"

Hermione thought for a moment. "You know, Harry, you have a point. Even a thousand years ago, it seems that we knew so much more about magic than we do now. I mean, no one alive could even _begin_ to figure out how the Heart of Hogwarts was constructed, and the runic arrays on that computer were so dense they just blended into blobs. Obviously we knew how to do that at one time. Why don't we now?"

Harry nodded. "Just so. But the problem is this: there are many aspects of magic that could be scientifically qualified. In fact, I bet we could learn mountains just from understanding the reason a stunner is red or a killing curse is that particular shade of green. But the more we learn, and the more we disseminate, the more power we give people. And if we do that without also making absolutely clear that magic is not to be trifled with, even as we can control certain aspects of it, it will literally mean the end of everything."

Hermione nodded. "I think what you're saying is that science will only take us so far, and no matter how adept we become at controlling the aspects of magic that can be controlled scientifically, we must always remember, and make sure it is always completely clear to those doing the scientific work, that we still serve magic, and not the other way around."

"Exactly", Harry nodded fervently. But this isn't something that will be done overnight. It will take years. Or decades. Or maybe even centuries. But we must recover the lost knowledge, and integrate it with non-magical science as much as possible. And at some point, the statue of secrecy will be obsolete because we will all share the same power, at least in principle. And if we are not careful, not just the world, but all Creation, could be destroyed because we will all share the same power, at least in principle. There are rituals out there that can unmake _everything_. Thankfully their requirements are usually so exacting and require so much power that no one can accomplish them successfully. We need to understand why they work, though, before we can even hope to accomplish this goal."

Hermione shook her head. "Harry, you don't do anything by half, do you?"

Kamiko put her hand over her face and laughed softly.

Harry smiled. "We'll start making a long term plan later. Hermione, you wanted to be kept busy, and I think this will keep you busy for at least as long as you're alive. Kamiko and John, keep doing your studies for now, we'll help you as we can, but once we all graduate, we've got a lot to do, if you're in. Hopefully what I'm doing now with the ministry means that we'll have a much easier time of it. But I have to finish that before we can even think of starting. I am stirring up a hornet's nest at the ministry. They will lose, but I have much that only I can do right now."

"It's a lovely day outside, could the three of you perhaps take a walk around the lake and we could meet here later? I'd like some time to myself, please."

They nodded and filed out of the room, but not before Hermione gave him a quick hug. They could hear John starting to ask Kamiko about life in Japan when the door closed.

Harry's expression turned pensive. "Yeshua, can we speak, please?"

Yeshua faded in and sat in one of the chairs. He conjured a glass of water.

"What's wrong, Harry", Yeshua asked softly.

Harry mumbled softly. "I'm afraid of you, Yeshua."

"Why, Harry?"

"I know that you're in the business of judgement. I saw you judge Voldemort and it was one of the most terrible things I've ever seen, and I don't even want to know what you did to the Death Eaters that died last night.

"I'm afraid that I'm going to screw up somehow and you're going to take this all away and then judge me like you judged Voldemort. I know if I screw up I deserve it, but I'm afraid anyway. I don't want to make you mad at me if I do something stupid and screw up using your authority."

Yeshua sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers. "Yes", he said, "that is so far the only side of me you've seen, isn't it?"

Harry nodded.

"And I imagine it must remind you of your relatives, in a way, am I right?"

Harry's face dipped down. "I wouldn't have said it that way, but…"

"I am judgement, Harry, it's true. But it's not the only side of me. I'm actually a very complex person. Hey now, don't look like that", he said, smirking.

Harry had been caught with a little grin.

Harry, do you remember what I told you yesterday about what makes a wizard dark?"

"Whether a sacrifice is given or demanded."

"Yes, exactly, Harry. Let me ask you another question. If I were to demand anything from you against your will, and then judge you if you didn't give it to me, what would that make me?"

"The darkest wizard ever."

"Just so, Harry. Just so. Even worse, since I am one with magic, it would mean that _magic_ is dark, too. And what's the point of living in a world where magic itself is against you? I mean, why go through life if you know you'll just get dinged for every little thing you didn't give when I demanded it of you?"

Yeshua thought for a moment, and Harry was quiet.

"So we have established that I cannot demand anything from you, right? Anything you want to give me _must_ be of your own free will or I, being magic, am, by definition, dark. Or even evil, shall we say"

Harry nodded.

"Harry, I am magic, and magic is me. I underwent a powerful ritual that was based upon sacrificing myself to give to the world something that would be of unimaginable value. And that thing that I give to the world is _forgiveness_. I gained the right to not demand judgement if I choose. Some call it forgiveness of sins, I prefer to call it wiping the slate clean. We start fresh, and when I meet you in the afterlife, I do not judge, because there is nothing to judge. It's all been forgiven. But there's a catch to forgiveness, Harry. Have you caught onto it yet?"

Harry shook his head.

"Forgiveness does not come because I deem it so. Forgiveness comes, because as magic, as a part of everything, and everything being a part of me, I have _already endured_ every payment that I could demand of someone. I shouldn't tell you this, Harry, but it's good to be the king", he said in his best Mel Brooks impression. Harry giggled.

"Two of the death eaters I judged last night I judged by ensuring that they had to live, as you, through everything that had happened to you from the time you were dropped at your relatives' doorstep to one day before you went to Hogwarts. But if I'd chosen, I could have forgiven them. I could have forgiven them because _I_ lived as you from the time you were dropped at your relatives' doorstep to one day before you went to Hogwarts. I had already endured their justice. But I made them endure it as well, because the fact that I endured it meant nothing to them. Do you understand?"

"You lived my life?"

"I've lived everyone's life, Harry. I've lived the good, and I have endured indescribable suffering. It's a part of the sacrifice that I gave. I gained all power over everything, but in order to gain that power, I must experience all suffering."

"How do you bear it?", Harry said, sniffling.

"Love, Harry. I love everything and everyone so much that I'm willing to bear that extreme burden.

"If Riddle had only acknowledged my right as King of the Universe, and served me instead of demanding I serve him, I wouldn't have judged him. I already endured his judgement, you see, as I suffered as everyone he brutally murdered. Not with them, but _as_ them."

Harry could barely trust himself to speak.

"You serve me, Harry. I showed up, and you believed I existed, you listened when I explained things to you, and you accepted my authority to give you my authority. And because you serve me, Harry, _of your own free will_, I have the absolute right to call your debts paid. By _me_. Because there's nothing I could "sentence" you to, for want of a better word, that I have not already experienced, and worse besides.

"But what if I screw up?", Harry asked.

"You will screw up, Harry. You're human. I already know that. When you do, we'll have words. I may even need to correct you sometimes. And if you screw up too badly or intentionally, I may remove the gift I have given you. But that does not negate your service to me. I would then have other things for you to do, or maybe then I would just take you to the afterlife and we'd decide where to go from there. But you do not need to be afraid of me, my champion. I have already paid for you."

"Could Voldemort…?"

"By the time he died, it was too late. Once he has paid for his misdeeds, I will introduce myself to him as my true self, and what happens after that depends on whether he has learned his lesson. I'm very patient, Harry. As I said last night, no one is unredeemable. But sometimes, they have to learn the hard way. Riddle's judgement is intended to teach him humility - something he never learned and would never have learned otherwise.

"I call some people to tell others about me, Harry. I call some people to prophesy in my name. I call some people to do miracles and heal people. Some people I call to write books or make movies. I call many people to many different things, and if they accept their calling and willingly give their lives to me, I consider their debts paid. And you, I called to change the world. That's your role. You are no better or no worse than those I call to sit by someone's bedside and comfort them as they die. But to he who has been given much, of him much will be expected.

"I expect great things from you, Harry. And you will always be mine. And I will always love you."

Harry's eyes were watering now, and he ran over to Yeshua and sobbed his eyes out. Finally, after he sniffled, a little, and walked back to his chair, he thought for a moment.

"There… are others?"

"Yes, Harry. Many others, all over the world, doing my will. Very few in the wizard world, unfortunately, as many of my followers think wizardry is evil - and often, their kind is, as it is about control rather than sacrifice. But my people are everywhere, Harry. Of every denomination, or sometimes none at all. Some don't even know it's me they've put their faith in. But my people are all doing their part to change the world. And you will do yours. I have faith in you.

"By the way, Harry, I told you yesterday that you may only invoke my judgement, not to judge. Do you understand the reason for this now?"

Harry nodded. "I think so. I have enough wisdom to know when judgement is necessary, but not enough to do the actual judging."

"Just so. Vengeance is mine, sayeth… me." He laughed lightly. "Azkaban has fallen. Go to lunch. We will talk later. Take comfort, Harry. Most people never see me face to face until they die, but they believe all the same. You get to see me face to face. I only reserve that for very special people", he said, and poked Harry's nose. Harry wiped his eyes and giggled.

"And do my work, Harry. Fix Britain. Then change the world."

And he faded.

Harry walked out of the room and went to the great hall for lunch.

**Minister's Office, Ministry of Magic**

Amelia Bones came running into the Minister's office at full speed, almost bowling over his assistant who tried to stop her, and only avoided a collision because the assistant moved aside at the last moment. He was busy doing paperwork, and looked up with surprise. "Amelia?"

She panted, out of breath from running all the way from her office to his. "Minister, Azkaban has fallen."

He sighed. "You mean the prisoners were released?"

"No, minister. It has _literally_ fallen. The aurors I sent after our wards stopped working showed not one stone standing upon another. It looked like it had exploded outwards. And the dementors.. They are gone."

"You mean they _escaped_?," he asked, appearing to grow more frantic by the moment.

"No, minister. Gone. We found their cloaks. The exact number of dementors that were guarding the prison. It appears they have been destroyed. Before our wards failed, we detected exactly one person standing near the building. Then he moved a little further away. Then he moved to the center of the building. Then the wards failed. The trapdoor that led to the Heart of Azkaban led to nothing but dirt. The energy flow is still active, but nothing else is. There is no more magic to speak of at the site, Minister. It is destroyed."

"And the prisoners?"

"That's the thing, Minister. All of them were moved to the ministry holding cells before Azkaban fell. It appears that whoever did this was only interested in Azkaban, not any of the prisoners. As a matter of fact", and she handed him a piece of parchment, "He helpfully left on my desk a full accounting of all of the prisoners that were already dead before the building was destroyed. And he left this note, too". She showed him the more personal note she had received.

"This 'Champion of Yeshua' destroyed ministry property, and then has the gall to warn us to never rebuild it?"

"You're missing the important part, Minister. Well, two important parts. The first is that he referred to the dementors as 'demons'. I'm sure that was not a mistake on his part. Did we truly have demons guarding our prisoners?"

The Minister paled. "I thought they were just dark creatures. That's what I was told…"

"That's what I was told too. And the other thing, Minister. Do you know who Yeshua was… or is?"

The Minister frowned. "No."

"I looked it up. He was a participant in an extremely powerful - I mean _extremely_ powerful, Minister, ritual that basically made him the king of the Universe. He has complete control over the magical and non-magical alike. The only one above him in any sense of the word is the Creator himself. And.. Minister… he has chosen a champion."

The Minister paled more. "A… Champion? Of Yeshua? That's what that means?"

Amelia nodded. "Azkaban suffered divine judgement this morning. The ministry considering over a hundred demons as property and using them to torment our prisoners was likely the reason why, if I had to guess. Whatever you do, Minister, tread lightly. We tried to approach the Goblins today to start trying to sort out all of the financial consequences of the deaths of all of the marked death eaters last night, and they literally refused to talk to us about it. They said, and I quote, 'We would rather go to war with the wizards than offend he who could destroy us with but a command.'

"I advise you, Minister, heed his words. Do not attempt to rebuild Azkaban, and do not allow anyone to attempt to rebuild Azkaban. If he is truly the Champion of Yeshua, judgement will come swiftly to anyone who does."

"Thank you for the report, Amelia. Please leave me. I have much to think about."

Amelia nodded, and walked out of the office, much more calmly than when she arrived. She nodded at the assistant she almost knocked over, and walked back to her office.

Fudge immediately pressed a button on his desk, and in walked his undersecretary Dolores Umbridge. She was a short, squat woman with a wide mouth who looked like a toad, and was, as usual, dressed in a pink cardigan and a pink woolen skirt. "Is there something I can do for you, Minister?", she simpered.

"Sit down", he said without preamble. "Dolores, I have lost many of my greatest supporters last night, for reasons that I don't understand. They tell me the only reason that they were killed was that they had a dark mark. You and I know both know that they were innocent of their crimes, having been under the imperius and all that."

She nodded, face in a perfect expression of sadness. "Such fine, upstanding purebloods lost", she said.

"Yes, yes", he said. "Amelia is telling me that this happened because Lord Thingy didn't actually die until last night, and took all of his death eaters with him. But that can't be. He died ten years ago. Something else must have happened."

"Maybe someone murdered them!", she said, her face a perfect picture of astonishment.

"Yes, that was what I was thinking too. But I didn't know who. But this morning Amelia literally ran into my office and told me that Azkaban had fallen."

"You mean all the prisoners-?"

"No, Dolores. I mean literally fallen. Like, destroyed. Razed to the ground."

Dolores's face was now not just a perfect picture of astonishment. She was truly astonished.

"What about the dementors?", she asked, fingering her cardigan where the amulet to control them would be if she were wearing it.

"Gone, too."

"You mean they escaped?," she said hopefully.

"No, Dolores. Gone. Their cloaks were found in the rubble."

Pure rage was on her face now. "So you're telling me someone killed all of the fine, upstanding citizens that just happened to have a dark mark, killed all of the dementors, which, by the way, were ministry property, and razed Azkaban to the ground?"

"That's about it."

"Well, what are you going to do about it?," she demanded.

"I don't know. All of my other advisors are dead now. Lucius always seemed to know the right thing to do", he said wistfully.

She thought, the rage still showing on her face. "Do we know who did it?"

"A person who calls himself the 'Champion of Yeshua' left us a note this morning. He even had the nerve to warn us never to rebuild on the site, and never to use demons to punish our prisoners, or we would face judgement."

"Oh, Minister, they weren't demons. They were just dark creatures, easily controlled. Don't tell me you believe him."

"I don't know if I do, Dolores. Amelia told me about the legends of Yeshua. If they're to believed, we really don't want to mess with this. Even the Goblins won't cooperate with us anymore, they seem to believe he could destroy them with a command."

"Of course they would, inferior creatures as they are. Maybe we should find this 'Champion of Yeshua'" and have a _talk_ with him," she said, her high pitched simpering back.

"We don't have a description, we've never seen him, we don't even know if it's a 'him'. Where would we even start?"

"Why don't we have Amelia start an investigation?"

"I don't know if she would. She warned me to take this seriously."

"If she doesn't, then we'll find someone who will. Until then, we've just lost Azkaban. You're going to need to spin this to the public or we're going to look really, really bad."

"Quite right, quite right", Fudge said. "Thank you, Dolores, you may go".

She waddled out of the room, and Fudge thought for a while. Finally he shrugged. Dolores was right. Better get moving.

Harry removed his invisibility, wearing his "Champion" disguise, and stepped out of the corner. "Good morning, Minister."

"What? Who are you?" He surreptitiously pushed a button under his desk ask he asked.

"That won't work, minister. I stopped time outside this office. No one will come."

The minister had fear on his face. "Who are you?," he asked, voice quaking.

"I am the Champion of Yeshua. Surely you've heard of me."

"You destroyed Azkaban and all of our dementors! I'll have you kissed - no, through the veil for this!"

"Ah, the veil, what an interesting artifact. I'll have to look at it sometime. But no, minister, you won't. You have presided over a ministry that tortured their prisoners with demons, and I heard both of your conversations a few minutes ago. Ms. Bones correctly advised you to tread with care. And Ms. Umbridge gave you some very, very bad advice. And you were just about to follow the bad advice, weren't you?"

Fudge was silent.

"One of the few abilities I have not been granted is foretelling the future, but let me guess. You were about to schedule a press conference where you were going to announce that Azkaban was destroyed, that the person responsible would be brought to justice, and that Azkaban would be rebuilt as soon as possible. Weren't you?"

Fudge sighed. "I was about to do exactly that."

Harry shook his head. "Minister, I explicitly said 'this is your only warning', and I meant it. Azkaban will not be rebuilt. Ever. I have decreed it. That site is salted, and not one block will be moved until the earth itself is destroyed. The ministry will never torture its prisoners again."

He stood back, and his aura grew. "I invoke judgement on you, Cornelius Fudge".

He then felt Yeshua begin speaking _through_ him. It was unsettling, but he allowed it to happen.

"Cornelius Fudge, I have seen your deeds, and I have judged you. You will immediately tender your resignation as Minister of Magic, citing personal reasons. You will take every galleon, knut and sickle of any bribe money that you have taken over the years and donate it to the St. Mungos children's ward. If you do not have enough money to settle that debt, you will sell your house and all of your possessions until you do. If you still do not have enough money or if you cannot afford the basic necessities of life, you will volunteer your time at the St. Mungo's children's ward for an average of 20 hours a week over a year. For each hour you volunteer, one Galleon will be deducted from your debt. Your earthly debt will be discharged when all of your bribe money is gone. If you do not live up to the conditions of this judgement, your life will be immediately forfeit and you will then be judged in the afterlife. You will never again take another job in politics. Your judgement is complete. Start packing, Minister". Harry faded out and left Fudge to himself.

He faded into Dolores Umbridge's office, and she tried the same trick with the button. He smiled, and it was not a mirthful smile.

"I have stopped time outside your office, Madam Umbridge. That won't work. I have already invoked judgement on your minister, and he will be tendering his resignation shortly.

"Who are you?", she said, while reaching for her wand. She whipped it up and shouted "Crucio". The sickly red beam splashed against him and vanished.

"Ow", he said blandly. "That hurt. Please stop."

He then casually disarmed her and snapped her short, pink wand in half Then he tossed the pieces over to the corner. He thought to himself, "Yeshua, I know I can't judge, but can I make a suggestion? She'd make a really good toad."

He heard laughter in his head. "That's why I get to judge. Get on with it, please."

"Madam Umbridge", he said, "You were probably not aware, but I was present for your meeting with Minister Fudge, where judgement was invoked for him being about to attempt to start the rebuilding of Azkaban. You were the one to give him that very bad advice. I said in my note that this would be your only warning."

"The Champion of Yeshua", she breathed.

He bowed. "At your service", he said politely. "Madam Umbridge, I invoke judgement against you."

He felt Yeshua speak through him again.

"Dolores Jane Umbridge, I have seen your deeds. You delight in the torment and torture of those you see as below you. Even though you are a half-blood yourself, you hold absolute contempt for anyone who is not a pureblooded, 'upstanding' wizard. You are now a squib, unable to use magic. You will immediately resign your position as Undersecretary to the Minister, citing personal reasons, and you will never take a job in politics again. As you revel in the torment and torture of others, you may never raise a hand to another living thing again. Otherwise you are free to live your life as you please. If you refuse to accept the terms of this judgement or break them in any way, your life is forfeit. And I will tell you right now if nothing changes you will come back as a house elf. For the Malfoys."

She was shaking, both with fear and rage. Harry tried to stop from laughing as he heard in his head "I'm serious about the house elf bit."

He faded out of the office.

He then faded into Amelia Bones' office. Her reaction was much the same as the other two, but he really didn't blame her. You don't get to be the head of the DMLE by not acting.

"Ms. Bones, I have stopped time outside of this office. But that really won't be necessary. I come in peace."

"Who are you?", she asked, wand out.

He bowed. "Champion of Yeshua at your service, Ma'am."

She lowered her wand. "So you're the one who destroyed Azkaban, and if my guess is correct, made a _lot_ of work for me last night."

He nodded. "Sorry about that, but what must be done, must be done."

She sat down, and invited him to have a seat. "I can't say I approve of what you've done, Mr…. Champion. But tell me why you did."

"That's fair", he said. It's the least I can do. Last night, Voldemort wasn't dead. He hasn't been truly dead for ten years, because of magic so foul it is not to be even spoken of. Last night, with some assistance, I sent him on. However, because of the nature of the mark that he marked his followers with, they went with him. Their deaths were, frankly, fortuitous, but not intentional."

She nodded. "I can understand that. It makes me feel a little better. But I can't cover up the deaths of most of pureblood society."

"If I'm correct, Ms. Bones, you will not have to. I have just come out of a… meeting… with both the Minister and his Undersecretary. They will both be resigning their jobs very shortly. I was in the meeting you had with the Minister this morning. He was not going to take your wise and prudent advice. I do not know for sure, but it would not surprise me if you were the next minister of magic. I give you my word that I am working for the betterment of Britain and the world. I would much rather work with you than against you. All you need to do is tell the truth. Tell the public that Voldemort was alive, that he is now incontrovertibly dead, and took all of his followers with him. If they ask how, just say it's classified. Because, frankly, it should be. I can only tell you the rituals he used required at least six different murders."

She looked horrified at that. "At least?"

He shrugged. "Who knows how many times he practiced. The world is better off without him."

She shrugged. "I can't argue with that. I can't argue that the world would be better off with the Death Eaters alive, either. Anyway, you've proven your power. There's not much I can do to stop you. But can you please at least let me know what you intend to do before you do it, if at all possible? It is far easier for me to do my job if I'm not going from crisis to crisis as you cause chaos all over magical Britain."

He thought for a moment. "It's true that there is no means available for you, or any other embodied human, to stop me, but I promise you that I will do that, if it is possible. Sometimes it will not be." He concentrated for a moment. "Here", and he handed her a shiny, very beautiful bracelet that he had just fashioned out of thin air. "Wear this. If you wish to contact me, just hold the ends together for five seconds. I do not promise I will arrive immediately, but I will do so as soon as possible. In an emergency, tap twice - but please, only in an emergency. In return, I expect you to allow me to do what I have been commissioned to do without interference. You couldn't interfere in any meaningful way but you could make things a bit more difficult, and I'd rather avoid that if at all possible. I prefer to avoid invoking judgement if at all possible."

"Thank you, Champion. And if I may ask, what is your commission?"

"To fix the corruption and rot in magical Britain. Let me ask you a question, if I may."

"Go ahead."

"Were you aware that the dementors were demons?"

"Not until this morning."

"They were. And the taint had spread all the way down into the Heart of Azkaban and was corrupting the ley lines."

"I… I… I had no idea. No one's been down there for ages."

"I removed the taint. But that is one of the reasons I salted the place. Please, from now on, treat your prisoners humanely. Like I said, I prefer to avoid invoking judgement."

"I would rather you didn't as well."

"I will be investigating the Department of Mysteries soon, Ms. Bones. Perhaps as soon as tonight. If things are as out of control down there as I suspect, it will be sealed come morning. That is a secret, and you will not share it. However, please rest assured. I will not do so without _very_ good reason. It is unfortunate that I expect I will find such a reason."

"Honestly, Champion, it would not surprise me either. If you can, please let me know what you find. Unspeakables are effectively above the law, and many areas down there are off limits to all but unspeakables, but I should like to know what's going on down there if at all possible."

"I shall keep that in mind, Ms. Bones. Thank you for the most enlightening conversation. I shall take my leave now. Thank you for your prudent advice to the Minister this morning. Good morning", he said, and faded out.

**Great Hall, Hogwarts**

As lunch was winding down, Harry walked up to the head table, and said quietly to McGonagall, "Acting Headmistress, I would like a word at your earliest convenience."

She responded back, "I'm sorry, Mr. Potter. I have important things to do today. Please speak to your head of house with your concerns." She went back to eating her food.

He did not move. "I understand, you have much to do today. Then, Acting Headmistress McGonagall, allow me to rephrase. The _Founder's Heir_ would like a word at your earliest convenience."

She dropped her fork. "You -?"

"Not here", he said. When is a good time to meet privately?"

"We shall meet in my office - the Deputy Headmistress' office, I haven't yet had a chance to move - in fifteen minutes."

"That is acceptable." He bowed. "Thank you for making time on such short notice." He walked out of the hall. It took her a full half a minute to have the presence of mind to pick up her fork again.

**Acting Headmistress McGonagall's Office**

Fifteen minutes later, Harry was sitting in a seat across from the Headmistress, who was looking as stern as he had ever seen her - which wasn't very often.

"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Headmistress."

"Founder's Heir?," she said, all formality forgotten.

"Yes," Harry said simply. "Slytherin by conquest, Gryffindor by blood. Put simply, when Tom Riddle was destroyed when I was one year old, I gained the title by conquest."

"Is that why Dumbledore found himself excluded by the castle last night as the three dead people were being rounded up?"

"Yes," he said. "Frankly, Hogwarts decided that he would have interfered, and made sure he was restricted to his office until the danger had passed."

"Mr. Potter, Professor Dumbledore was one of the best headmasters this school ever had, even if he did make… mistakes."

His eyes bored into hers, a brief legilimency probe that she did not detect, and he found what he was looking for. He said four simple words. "Worst sort of muggles."

She cringed, almost as if struck.

"I would not be having this conversation with Dumbledore, Headmistress, as frankly, I do not trust him. You see, he took a sacrifice from me, and forced me to live with people who abused me in nearly every way for ten years when there were plenty of available options in the wizard world. That's a sacrifice no one has any right to take from any child. But it's worse than that. Do you see what's left of my scar? Until last night, that was a piece of Voldemort, and Dumbledore was under the impression that I would need to be killed until it could be destroyed. He was prepared to sacrifice me _again_ in order to accomplish his goals, no matter how noble they may seem. In my eyes, this makes him a dark wizard. As dark as they come.

"At least you spoke up. You allowed it to happen, but you spoke up. That doesn't mean I can trust you, necessarily, but it at least means, I think, that we can work together. We need to seriously upgrade the wards in this castle, Headmistress, and I have a few ideas to run past you."

A few minutes later, after he had explained what the current state of the wards was, and what wards were possible, she was shaking with rage. How had Albus let things get this bad?

"Did I just say he was one of the best Headmasters the school ever had? I take that back, the barmy old coot was a disaster." Harry snickered in spite of himself to a rather weak glare from the Heamistress. "I agree with you, Mister Potter. Not that you need it, but I approve of the changes you wish to make. I think they are a fair compromise and should significantly improve the situation within the school. Please go ahead and do so. But grant me this: Do not do so until this evening when I can announce them to the school during dinner."

Harry spoke clearly. "Hogwarts, please initiate the ward changes we just discussed at the time of Headmistress McGonagall's choosing. She will use the words 'Hogwarts, invoke the wards, please' when it is time."

Hogwarts responded, "It shall be done, my heir"

McGonagall looked thoughtful. "Mr Potter, will you assuage an old lady's curiosity? I assume you have been to the Heart of Hogwarts."

He nodded. "I have."

"What is it like?"

He thought for a moment. "Book some time with me soon, Headmistress, and I will take you on a tour. You cannot see it without an invitation from me… but truthfully, it's far too amazing not to be shared. There are… many things we have forgotten in the last thousand years. But keep in mind, please: whatever I show you is a secret."

She nodded. "I appreciate that, Mr. Potter. And for what it's worth… I'm sorry. I was not, for many reasons, able to stand up to Mr. Dumbledore as I would have liked."

He thought for a second. "Apology accepted. You tried. It was more than most did. If there is nothing else you wish to discuss, Headmistress?"

"One thing. Do you know why those three people died last night?"

He thought for a moment. "All I can tell you is this, Headmistress. All magic is based upon sacrifice. All three of those people sacrificed their life and magic to the wrong person. Beware of people who demand sacrifices from you, and be cautious about what you sacrifice yourself for. They died because darkness has nothing to do with what kind of magic you use, but how you treat others. Remember this well, Headmistress."

She nodded, her face having lost her sternness. "Are you really eleven?"

He thought to himself, no, in some ways I am thirty-eight. He said, instead, "Sometimes you're forced to grow up fast to survive. And Hogwarts herself has taught me much."

He thought for a moment. "Headmistress, Hogwarts has made me aware of a Cerberus in the third floor corridor. It appears that the former Headmaster was setting a trap for Voldemort. If you could please have it removed by tonight, and the troll as well, I would much appreciate it. I'm sure you would agree that it is a danger to the school, particularly because Dumbledore all but put a flashing neon sign above that door saying 'open me! Free Adventure!'"

"I will have both of them out by the weekend. I cannot promise tonight as I have to find people capable of handling such dangerous creatures. I know who can do it but not on such short notice."

"That is acceptable, but the sooner, the better. I see you are busy, Headmistress. I will take my leave now. Thank you for your time."

He bowed and left the room. He had many other things to do, but it was a day off, and while there were plenty of decent ways to spend a few hours, he thought spending some of it outside enjoying the fall while the weather was still good was a capital idea. And so, he did. And he met up with his friends, and they all had a smashing time until it was time for dinner.

He was still eleven, after all.

A/N Well, well, well. You get a chapter ahead of schedule. Aren't you the lucky ones.

This seemed to be a good place to break, and left plenty of things to resolve in the next few chapters.

Honestly, I cannot wait to get to the next chapter, and I will try to have that out by the weekend after next (no promises, but I can't imagine not doing it, because this is the chapter where the Champion of Yeshua finds out what's been going on in the Department of Mysteries. Most importantly, we'll all find out what's in that locked door that no one ever seems to be able to open.

8/2/19: added details and grammatical fixes.

8/21/19: Fixed McGonagall's name.


	4. The Guardians of the Arches

**Harry Potter and the Champion of Yeshua - 4**

**The Department of Mysteries**

A/N: I'm really looking forward to this chapter.

**Great Hall, Hogwarts**

Just before dinner, as all the students were sitting down waiting for their food, McGonagall stood up.

"Students, I know your growing stomachs are waiting to be filled… oh, who am I kidding, I'll never be Dumbledore. I have a few announcements and then you shall be left to eat.

"The first announcement is that classes will be cancelled for another day, as we still have not been able to fill the positions that were unfortunately vacated last night. We could have continued with the classes which still have teachers, but the attentions of all the staff are directed towards solving our current issues. However, we have some very good prospects and hope to have better news for you tomorrow."

The class cheered, a little, but McGonagall was no-nonsense and they knew not to push it. Nonetheless, she patiently waited out the cheering. Even though her exterior was stern, she had not forgotten what it was like to be a child. Well, mostly.

"Now, before you cheer _too_ much," she said with a nearly undetectable smile, "we have arranged with some of the seventh years to give thorough tours of the castle tomorrow. First years would benefit the most and you are not required, but most strongly encouraged to participate. However, those of other years may also find a useful tidbit or two, and dare I say, a good walk never hurts anyone. You will even get to see places you would not normally be allowed to see, such as the common rooms of other houses. Come to the Great Hall at 9 AM and the tours will start then. They will continue throughout the morning with small groups so as not to be too disruptive to the school, so if you arrive a little late that should not be a huge difficulty. If you choose not to take advantage of this opportunity, I encourage you to find another productive use of your time. I am aware that you are but children, however, so remember that having fun and enjoying childhood is never a waste. It only happens once, as you know.

The second announcement is the most important and is the one that will affect you the most. The past two days have exposed an _appalling_ lack of security protocols. There was one death eater, a person possessed by the wraith of Voldemort', and at that half the room flinched. "Oh stop it, it's just a name and he's dead anyway, and an animagus unwittingly brought in by two students at different times for many years who just happened to be an unregistered animagus _and_ a death eater. For those of you not familiar with the concept, an animagus is a person who can turn into an animal at will and still keep their human thoughts, and the penalty for being an unregistered animagus is _harsh_. After all, we can't have people who can turn into lions running around eating people, when we have no idea who they are." She pursed her lips. "But I digress, which seems to come with the job, it seems."

There were titters at that throughout the hall. Dumbledore was well known for his digressions, which sometimes bordered on the inappropriate.

"So, After consultation with Hogwarts, it has been decided that there is plenty of energy and ward capacity to close the gaping security holes we have identified - both inside and out.

"The following changes to the wards will be made, effective immediately:

"Students are told that there will be no magic in the halls and that it is a punishable offense. It is no longer a punishable offense - it is now simply impossible. No magic will be permitted to be performed in the halls except by teachers from now on. Your wands simply will not work. You will be permitted to use magic in classrooms, in your own common room and dorms, and in other places designated for training that shall be announced shortly. This will also be true of any adult that is not staff of the school. Staff will, of course, be expected to use this privilege judiciously and fairly, and the consequences if that is abused will be most severe. It is unfortunate that I must say that, but after some previous teachers who would no doubt consider this an opportunity for settling scores, it is a necessity, unfortunately. I have no doubts that our current staff will have no problems with this."

Those at the staff table nodded. None of them had liked Snape and had wondered how he had managed to survive as long as he had.

"As far as external wards go, no animagus will be allowed to cross the wards, transformed or not, without special dispensation from either the Headmaster/Headmistress of their deputy. Any student who wishes to learn the skill is encouraged to, however, it must be under the supervision of a qualified teacher. Unexpected animagus transformations will be investigated and suitably dealt with. No dark creature will also be allowed to cross the wards, with the exception of a special dispensation for Care of Magical Creatures, and even then, under very close supervision. Anyone being attempting to bring a dark creature into the school will be dealt with. The sole exception is werewolves on days that they will not transform. If you have doubts as to whether a creature is dark, please see your head of house.

"Also, no one who has been branded as the chattel of another will be allowed to cross without special dispensation. Since there are no more people with the Dark Mark, this is not likely to be an issue, but we will make the ward modification anyway. We do not want people in the castle whose loyalty is under someone else's control, particularly if we do not know who that person is.

"If you have a dark artifact in the school, you will send it home tonight. As of tomorrow, no dark artifact will be allowed to cross the wards, and any dark artifact currently within the wards will be destroyed. Any exceptions must be approved by staff, and only for teaching purposes. If you have doubts as to whether an item is a dark artifact, and you wish to keep it, send it home."

"Any visitor to the school must have prior authorization to cross the wards. Only students and staff will be given free dispensation. We will make every effort to accommodate parents and others with a legitimate reason to be in the school, but for your safety, they will no longer have free passage.

"Oh, and one last thing. Any attempts to potion someone without their awareness, no matter how innocuous the potion, will be treated in the same manner as if they were magically assaulting the person. However, if the potion is shown to have been intended to cause grievous bodily harm, is banned by the ministry, or is to be used for mind control in any way (and this includes the class of potions commonly known as 'love potions'), it will be automatic expulsion and referral to law enforcement." She glared at Fred and George Weasley, who were looking at their feet.

"By the way, when I say 'suitably dealt with', I'm not talking about detentions. Depending on circumstances, detentions are a possibility, but I'm talking about consequences up to and including expulsion and possible referral to law enforcement. I say this because I wish to be absolutely clear that we are _not joking_. The safety of the school is of equal importance to the competency of the staff in teaching, and it will no longer be a secondary consideration to the plans of people who do not take it seriously." Like Dumbledore, she thought to herself. "Hogwarts herself takes her security very seriously, and we would be remiss if we did not take at least as seriously as she does.

"Hogwarts was once seen as one of the safest places in the world. It will be again, with time. Hogwarts, invoke the wards, please."

Everyone felt a subtle change in the wards, and a few people tested their wands and found them not working. Fred and George Weasley looked very, very disappointed. Very few of their pranks would ever work again. Of course, that was the plan.

"Of course, in an emergency situation, Hogwarts will lift or modify the wards as is appropriate. She is paying attention to the goings-on in the castle and is capable of modifying them when appropriate. We do not intend to leave you defenseless in a situation where defense is required. If you have any questions or concerns, please ask your head of house.

"Now, with all that said, I have no more words to say. So, dig in". She waved her hand, and food appeared. Conversation was very muted as people took their food. Some because they realized that bullying had become nearly impossible except by using words, and some because they wondered why these changes were necessary. Of course, some just didn't like change.

Harry surveyed the room as he ate. It would be a difficult adjustment for some, but it was for the best.

He did notice Daphne Greengrass staring at him again, and then looking away when she saw him looking, while picking at her food. Really, what was that about? He'd have to look into it. Female interest was one thing, even at their age, but there was something else there he was missing.

As dinner was coming to an end and students were leaving for their dorms, Harry sought out Hermione.

"Hey, Hermione. Come with me, if you're done, please."

"Sure, Harry. I was just finishing up."

She took a bite of treacle tart and a sip of pumpkin juice, then stood up. They walked out of the Great Hall.

They stopped in an alcove out of the way of prying ears, and Harry said to Hermione, with an almost predatory grin, "wanna go on an adventure?"

"Where?", she asked. "Won't they know we're gone?"

"Nope", he said. "Gonna pull another of those time tricks. I think you'll like this. Wanna come?"

"Where?", she asked again, but he could see the glimmer in her eyes. She may not have liked _dangerous_ adventures, but he knew she would love this one.

"It's a surprise. Take my arm", he said, and she did. And they both faded.

**Department of Mysteries**

They faded back in just outside the lift on the level of the Department of Ministries.

"Where are we?", she said, looking at the dark tiles all around her, lit by blue-white torches.

"The Department of Mysteries. Wouldn't you like to see what they're up to?"

Her mouth dropped open and she looked like cat who just caught a big juicy mouse. He put his hand over her mouth just as she started to emit a "SQUEEEEE", but that didn't stop her from jumping up and down.

"Shhh!", he said, quietly. "I haven't dealt with the wards yet. Give me a second."

He concentrated for a moment, and they could feel a slight change in the feel of the magic. "There, the monitoring and security wards are disabled, and anyone inside should be sound asleep. Let's go see what all the fuss is about. But one thing, Hermione: be careful in here! I've heard some really, really bad things about this place. I'm not sure I'd be quite as excited in your place, to be honest. But it should be interesting nonetheless."

She nodded, a little fearfully, but they walked up to the door in front of them and walked through. He sealed the door after them. They found themselves in a circular room surrounded by doors and the doors started spinning around them at dizzying speed.

"Stop", he said, and held up his hand. The doors immediately stopped. He walked over to a door and put a glowing dot next to it. "This will be the first door we try."

He put his hand towards the doorknob and got a funny look on his face. He then stopped and turned towards Hermione. "Hermione", he said, "It seems Yeshua has a message for you."

She suddenly looked anxious, like if she had been called in front of a teacher.

Harry began to speak. "Hermione Jean Granger, I know that you were raised an Anglican, and this gives you a very specific idea of who I am and what I expect out of people. I also know that today you owled your parents and asked them for a Bible."

Her face fell.

"I am not criticizing you for this by any means. The Bible is a way in which I communicate with a humanity who would not otherwise know me, and contains much wisdom, advice, and encouragement. But I cannot count how many times I have met someone, and they immediately found a teacher who taught them what they think the information it contains means, or read it for themselves and came to wrong conclusions because they didn't ask me what it meant. They had a real experience, but then that's all it ever was. Sometimes they just stayed where they were, comfortable with the safety their teachers gave them. Sometimes they even became the opposite of what I intended for them to become, and did incalculable damage to what I'm trying to accomplish.

"Look at the Bible through the lens of me, and not the other way around. I told Harry he was not allowed to judge, but he can make this one judgement: If you start behaving in a way that makes it clear you are trusting a book over me, he has my permission to whap you upside the head and tell you to cut it out."

Hermione looked down. She knew that she always tended to trust books far too much, and this was a timely reminder.

Harry/Yeshua's voice softened. "I am always here, Hermione, in you. If you have a question, you have but to ask. Now go take care of business here - there are things that really do need to be set right, and quickly."

Harry shook his head. "Wasn't expecting that one."

"What does he mean?"

"Ask him. But if I had to guess, you've always been one to trust what books say without examining them critically, simply because they're books and books are never wrong. You've gotten better at that over the years, I think - the thirty-eight year old part of you has mellowed a great deal - but I think you must be careful. It's way too easy to take a book and beat people over the head with it. Even if the book's not wrong, you might be reading it wrong."

"I think I get it, but I'll ask him."

"Good idea. To tell you the truth, I hate it when that happens. It's a very uncomfortable feeling to be spoken through." He heard a giggle in his head, and he shook it again. "Someone finds this amusing. Let's do this", he said.

And they opened the door.

They entered a long, rectangular room that had tanks full of what looked like disembodied nervous systems. Harry reeled. "Are these what I think they are?"

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know, but it sure looks like it.

Harry asked Yeshua in his head. "Any ideas? These look like disembodied nervous systems and brains, but we're not sure exactly what they are or where they came from."

Yeshua responded, "They are abominations. They are an attempt to study thought, but in order to do so, they literally took the brains and nervous systems out of people. The tanks are a nutrient solution to keep them alive. These aren't people anymore in any significant meaning of the word. Send them on."

Harry said "Yeshua says these are people whose brains and nervous systems have been taken out of their bodies so they can study thought."

She shuddered. "So they _are_ what I thought they were."

Harry spoke clearly. "In the name of Yeshua, all of the… souls... in this room currently in tanks shall immediately move on to the afterlife." The brains became still.

Hermione mumbled to herself, "and may God have mercy on them."

Harry shivered. "I think he will. That should cover a _lot_ of debts."

He waved his hands and the tanks vanished along with their content, leaving nothing but an empty, rectangular room. He scanned the room for further magic and didn't find any.

"One room down", he said, "And that wasn't a very good start. That was enough for me to seal the Department right here. Let's see what other surprises await us." He walked out the door, Hermione following. His command to stop was still in place, so the doors didn't start spinning again. He opened the door next to it, and they walked through.

This was the "time room". There were a bunch of time turners in a display case in the front of the hall, and otherwise all manner of clocks and other things to tell time scattered everywhere, so that there was barely room to walk. At the end there was a bell jar with a hummingbird cycling through its life, which cast a sparkling light throughout the room. But after consultation with Yeshua and Hermione, he didn't see anything particularly horrible about this room, other than the dangers of playing with time, but he decided to leave it be for a while. If the department was sealed, things were not likely to get out of control and it could be searched more thoroughly later.

There did look to be some offices on the side, though, and he considered those to be worthy of investigation. As they walked into the office, they found a desk, which they rifled through and found nothing of interest except some keys, which Harry magically copied. There was also a filing cabinet full of papers, which Harry carefully made copies of each one and sent back to the room of requirement. He checked the office for any other magic, and found a safe hidden behind a frozen picture. He opened the safe, and found plans for what appeared to be many magical and muggle buildings. He copied these as well, and closed the safe.

In the next office, they found much the same. He made copies of all of the papers that he found, but there did not appear to be a safe in this room. He made a note to do a more thorough search later, but right now he was just trying to take stock of what was happening down there. The brains were a very bad start.

They carefully left the offices and entered and door in the back, which led to a very long room, with racks and racks full of orbs. Some were greyed out, and some were glowing. This must have been the Hall of Prophecies that Yeshua was referring to. He briefly considered trying to find "his" prophecy, but decided against it. It was over, no point in rehashing the past. Even Yeshua seemed to respect the provenance of prophecy, though, so he didn't consider the room unimportant.

But even as harmless as it seemed, they carefully examined the room anyway, and did not find anything useful other than the prophecies themselves. He wanted to make a note to go over the ones that were still glowing, but they both agreed that that would be better left for another time. They made their way back to the hall of doors.

The next door they opened took them into an ancient-looking room, with a veiled archway surrounded by what appeared to be an amphitheater type setting. As they carefully walked closer to the veil, they both could hear whispers. He examined the veil carefully, both magically and visually. Visually there was nothing particularly interesting about the archway except for the way the veil kept moving as if driven by gusts of air, even though there was absolutely no wind. Magically, though, it was shining like a small sun.

"What do you think, Hermione?", he said quietly. "This looks like the veil that Fudge threatened to have me thrown through."

"This looks like it should be some kind of a gateway between here and the afterlife… but something doesn't feel right about that. Why the whispers, for one thing?"

He nodded. "At first glance, this is an execution chamber. But I'm not trusting my first glances on this one. Stand back", he said, and did the same.

"I command, in the name of magic, all items in this room to reveal their secrets to me."

He paused for a moment, while Hermione waited not so patiently to find out what he had discovered.

"Oh. My.", he said. And then he actually stumbled.

"What? What?", Hermioned bounced, almost squealing with anticipation.

"This is an ancient room, Hermione. It far predates the Ministry of Magic. This arch is, in fact, so old that it could not tell me exactly how old it is. Eons, Hermione. Many thousands of years."

Her eyes opened wide.

"But it's more than that, Hermione. This is one node in a vast transportation network. It could only tell me where its default destination node is, and nothing about the rest of the network. It leads to Jerusalem."

"The most powerful magical site in the world?"

"Yes. And I'm not sure that's a coincidence."

"So why is it used as an execution chamber?"

"Well, it's not turned on right now. It's disconnected from the network. So someone going through the veil now… it would be like going into a lift when the car's not on the floor."

"The whispers…", she said. "Do you think people are still alive in there?"

"I don't know, Hermione. But this needs to be explored in great detail. We don't have much more time tonight, as we have other rooms to explore. But this, in itself, is also a reason to seal the Department of Mysteries. They don't know what this is, and it is a very dangerous device for people who don't know how to use it. If one activated it without making sure it was connected to the network, who knows what might happen. It'd be like opening the doors to an empty shaft."

"Yeshua", he thought, "I know this is probably something I need to figure out for myself. But answer me one question, please. Does this veil lead to the afterlife?"

"No", Yeshua answered in his mind. "You're actually on the right track. But the truth is out there."

"Yeshua confirmed that it doesn't go to the afterlife. But we can't just launch a rescue mission. Number one, we don't know how. Number two, most people who were thrown in here were criminals, and it's possible that there was a good reason they were 'executed'. So we'd have to approach that very, very carefully. We know what it is, but have absolutely no idea why or how it works, and that's the most dangerous thing to play with."

Hermione nodded. "I agree. Harry, I think we need to find some people we can trust with this. You've been granted a lot of power, but I'm not sure it's enough for this. This is larger than Great Britain. After all, since this leads to Jerusalem, one could infer at the least that it's a worldwide network, and this can't be the only arch ever discovered."

Yeshua spoke in both their heads this time. "You're right, Hermione. It's not. I'm setting some things in motion. Remember, many people serve me. Keep exploring, but leave this be for now. You are correct as to how dangerous this artifact is."

They both nodded. "Even if he weren't Yeshua, that'd be wise. Let's go.", Hermione said softly.

They walked out and closed the door.

The next room appeared to be locked. Harry examined the locking charms, and they were extremely powerful charms. Whatever was behind this door was extremely well protected. He stood back, and said, "In the name of magic, I command this door to unlock". It appeared to actually struggle against the command, but in the end, his authority won out, and there was a sullen-sounding "click".

He opened the door, and they both stepped in.

And his mouth dropped open.

There were several cages in this room, the bars made of titanium and imbued with so much energy that it was difficult to see through them with magic sight. On the left was a brilliant being of light, with wings, a human face and body, who appeared to be patiently waiting for them to arrive. On the right was a veela, who was fully exuding her aura and clawing desperately to get at the being of light. There was a unicorn in the cage next to her, who looked sickly and malnourished. There appeared to be a fountain of amortentia in the middle of the room, and in the last cage was a fairly normal looking child, but the expression on her face was anything but.

Hermione ran over to the unicorn, which did not even have the strength to stand up.

Harry had no idea where to start. He walked over to the being of light first. "What are you", he said.

"I am an angel. My name is Daniel. I can wait. Tend to the others first, please. But beware. This room is warded so that anything that gets out other than through the door will set off explosives - in many magical places full of children. This is how they trapped me."

"WHAT?," Hermione shrieked, looking back in horror.

"This is the room where they are supposed to be studying love. That veela over there has been potioned to have an incredible desire for me. They have forced me to mate with her several times - I think they are hoping she will get pregnant. They are studying love - and the lack of it. That girl next to me is an obscurial."

"A what?"

"A child that has been abused so much that she has lost control over her magic, and when it erupts it is damaging. The cage is warded so that her eruptions are contained - or at least redirected."

Hermione ran out of the room, sobbing. Harry felt like doing the same, but instead started making proclamations.

"In the name of magic, I degree that the explosives set to go off if the wards to this room are breached are rendered inert and moved to the Ministry's evidence room. And he knew it was done.

"In the name of magic, all wards except those intended to protect the obscurial are removed." And he knew it was done. He could feel the magic chanage.

"In the name of magic, the unicorn will be set to the Hogwarts Care of Magical Creatures professor for rehabilitation". And the unicorn disappeared.

"In the name of magic, this veela shall have the influence of all potions removed", and suddenly she straightened up, looking murderous. She turned avian and threw a fireball at him, shrieking. It harmlessly splashed off of him and landed on the ground in a shower of sparks, after which it fizzled.

"Calm", he ordered, and she changed back. "I am here to help. What is your name?"

She rattled off a stream of French that Yeshua had to help him translate.

"I understand. You will come to no more harm. Please stay here for a moment. There is someone who needs to see this. Daniel, can you stick around for a moment as well?

He concentrated, and listened. He then nodded, and waited a minute, putting on his disguise while he was waiting. And then Amelia Bones appeared, looking as if she had hurriedly gotten out of the shower.

"Hello, Amelia. It is unfortunate that we meet again under these circumstances. Do you know where we are?"

She looked around. "Doesn't look like a very fun place, wherever it is."

"This is the locked room in the Department of Mysteries where they claimed to be studying "love". This Veela over here, a Ms. Beaucourt, was given a very strong love potion keyed to this angel over here. This angel was trapped against his will because they threatened to set off explosives in areas with magical children if he didn't cooperate. There was a unicorn over in that cage, whom I sent to Hagrid for care, and that girl there is an obscurial."

"A WHAT?", she said, her first instinct being to call her aurors, but he put up his hand. "I will deal with this from a justice perspective. The explosives have been rendered inert and are in the Ministry evidence office. But that will do no good, as you have no jurisdiction over the DoM. I need your help figuring out what to do with these two."

"We have a room in St. Mungos warded against obscurials. There may be treatment she can receive."

"Thank you. Magic, send her there, along with enough galleons to pay for her treatment." And she disappeared.

Amelia looked at him questioningly. "Please don't. I can afford it. But I don't want to reveal the source of the money. Please don't investigate, it is all legal." She nodded.

"This Veela here has probably been missing for a while, and is at _least_ suffering from potion and sexual abuse. Please come up with a sufficient cover story and treat her as you would a victim. Please don't worry about justice. As I said, I will take care of that", and his voice hardened, "and they will not be getting off easily."

He said to the girl in French, "Ms. Beaucourt, this is Ms. Bones from the British DMLE. She will be making sure you get treatment and are returned to your family. Once you leave, I will raze this place to the ground."

Amelia pointed to the being of light. "And what about him?"

"He can leave anytime. I simply wanted him to witness my actions, and I wanted you to see him." He opened the door to the cage, even though he knew the angel could leave, and he also released the Veela. He beckoned the Veela towards him, and they all walked out of the room, where Hermione was waiting for them.

"I would like for you to witness this", he said in both English and in French.

"In the name of magic, this room shall be stripped bare and there shall be nothing left but the walls, ceiling, and floor." And everything, including the cages, vanished.

"In the name of magic, I declare the Department of Mysteries sealed. None may access it except for myself."

"And in the name of Yeshua, I invoke judgement against every unspeakable in Great Britain".

Yeshua spoke in his head. "It's the least they deserve. It is done."

He turned to Amelia. "I do not know what form that judgement will take, but it will be fair, and I would not be surprised if it were lethal. You may want to make preparations in your morgue"

"Daniel, you may leave now. I simply wanted you to witness that."

The angel bowed. "Thank you for your assistance, and Yeshua as well. I had no doubt I would be rescued. I simply did not know when."

Yeshua spoke in Harry's head. "This abomination is one of the reasons I wanted you to take care of this."

Harry thought back, "There are many things about this that don't make sense. I will need to talk with you about them later."

He felt a nod in his head.

The angel then disappeared. He turned to Amelia. "I will send you and Ms. Beaucourt to the DMLE, where you will make sure she gets all of the treatment she needs. Let me know how much it is, and I will pay for it. I imagine this could cause some friction between the French and English Ministries of Magic. If you need help with that, please let me know."

"I will do that. Thank you, Champion." And they both disappeared.

He turned to Hermione. "Are you okay?"

She ran to him and clung to him with all of her strength, and sobbed. "I had no idea our ministry was this evil!", she said. "I'm not a Champion of Yeshua and even I know that was crossing a line!"

"Quite a few lines, in fact. Are you up for the rest of the rooms? There only seem to be two left."

"I think so", she said, sniffing. "I hope none of them are as bad as this one."

"Me too," he said softly, and she disentangled herself from him. "Let's get this over with."

He went to the second to last door, and opened it. This appeared to simply be a long room with what seemed to be holographic replicas of all of the planets. He checked, and there appeared to be no other magic, so they decided to close the door and go on to the last one. Studying space was about as innocuous as you could get.

They opened the room, and it appeared to be a typical room full of offices. They methodically searched each office, and made copies of all of the documents they found. They finally made their way to the office of the Head Unspeakable, they were rifling through the contents of his desk, when Hermione said, "Harry. Look at this".

It was a pamphlet, of sorts. It had a logo with the entire planet, with an arch inside it, the same kind inside the Room of Death. The logo underneath it said "Guardians of the Arches: Protecting the world with knowledge". Inside the pamphlet appeared to be a breakdown of all of the different unspeakable departments in the world, with details of what they were doing and studying. It looked as if every department had its own Head Unspeakable.

Hermione blanched. "Harry, this looks like it's saying that the Unspeakables are a shadow government, centered on the arches."

Harry nodded. "It does look like that". He took a breath. "Yeshua", he said out loud, "I am about to take an action that I believe exceeds my authority. If it does, we can have one of those talks, but I truly believe this is the best course of action, based upon what we have just found. I believe that if I don't do it, and I don't do it _now_, that this will be the start of a worldwide magical war."

"In the name of Magic, I declare all locations of the Guardians of the Arches cleared of unspeakables and sealed. I declare the existence of the Guardians of the Arches, under whatever names they are called in their respective governments, a secret. I declare all arches around the world deactivated and not to be reactivated until further notice. And, in the name of Yeshua, I invoke judgement on all unspeakables around the world."

Yeshua responded, out loud as well. "Yes, this does exceed your authority. But I agree with you that it is the correct course of action. I will do it on my authority and treat it as a prayer. It is done."

He turned to Hermione. "I cannot be sure, but I think this may be the reason that we have forgotten how to build Hogwarts."

"Why do you think that?", she responded.

"I'm not sure. But the reason I took this action, even knowing it probably exceeded my authority, is that if this organization was not immediately neutralized, they would realize someone probably figured who they really were. And if they did, then they would take action to protect themselves. And some may have had access to the knowledge that disappeared.

"And given what we found today in _ours_, it is pretty clear to me that this is an organization that is beyond redemption. As you've said, they've crossed many lines, and that's just _this _branch. I don't even want to think about what they get up to in the other branches. Let's get out of here." And he took her arm and they headed back to Hogwarts, two seconds after they had left.

They walked up to the Room of Requirement and sat down. "Yeshua, can we speak, please?"

He faded in. "Sure, what's up?"

"I'm worried about what we just - will - seal up. What if there are beings in there that need to be fed?

"Don't worry about that, Harry. Remember when I said I was - will be - setting other things in motion? I'm raising other champions in other countries. They will investigate their own branch of the 'Guardians of the Arches', and ensure that any injustices are taken care of. Once I've done that, I will bring you all together and you can go over what you've found and conjectured. Expect that meeting in about a week. In the meantime, you've done plenty, and things need to settle down for a while before the next big thing happens. Take a break, go over the papers you copied when you have some spare time to get a better idea of what they were up to and why, and most importantly, do some research and find out the history of the Guardians. You will be contacted this weekend by some people who I think will be of great help with that."

"I'm sorry about exceeding my authority", Harry said quietly. "I knew I was when I did it."

Yeshua ruffled Harry's hair. "I would rather have someone who oversteps their bounds to do the right thing than who is too afraid of hacking me off. It was the right thing you did. Just don't get in the habit of it. With that organization essentially neutralized, I don't see any reason why you would have to do so in the future, especially with more Champions coming. THEN we would have words."

"Do any unspeakables… survive?"

"Some. Some were simply studying things that were leading nowhere. The ones who had the idea for the "love room", however…"

Harry nodded. "I understand."

"Even for those who survived, all knowledge of the organization was erased. Your job now is to try to find what they lost. Let the other champions deal with their own jurisdictions."

"First, though, I have a question. Daniel bothered me. Why did he not have the power to bypass the wards, and why did he feel himself obligated to mate with that Veela when he knew it was a wrong thing to do?"

Yeshua sighed. "To answer that question, I have to explain angels. They are very powerful and pure beings, but they are messengers. They have little authority that they are not specifically given for whatever task they have been commissioned to do. Frankly, Harry, you are far more powerful than they are, even though they are beings of pure magic, for you have my _authority_. They only have as much authority as they need at any given time, and it's often not very much. Sometimes an angel is commissioned to be a vehicle of judgement, and when they are given that kind of authority, they are great and terrible to behold. But Daniel was a simple messenger. How they caught him is knowledge that is best kept as secret as possible.

"He had prayed to me to be rescued, and I listen to the prayers of angels as well as humans, but in the meantime, that abomination of an organization made him choose between the destruction of a bunch of innocent children, or mating with a Veela that was so potioned that she was practically begging for the chance. He hated that choice, but sacrificed himself for the good of the children. This is one reason why the judgement for those responsible for the "love room" will be so terrible. Daniel willingly gave a sacrifice, but it was forcibly extracted due to externally imposed circumstances, and treating a creature of purity in such a way is one of the worst abominations conceivable. Daniel will not be judged, however. He is not a fallen angel and did the best he could under trying circumstances. You were the answer to his prayer."

Harry nodded. That had been bothering him. He would have though that an angel would not be capable of choosing in the way that he did. "I don't understand, though. Why couldn't you have just extracted him?"

"I could have. I have the power to do so. But my mission is not just to set things right in the world. It's to teach my children, such as you, what their true power to set things right on their own, through me, is. Sometimes, unfortunately, that means justice has to wait a while. But it always comes, and things are always set right in the end." He smiled. "You should see what happens when all of my disparate plans all interact with each other, like a giant puzzle, and out comes something so wonderful and amazing that everyone involved thinks it was worth the sacrifice. That is what I do. But unfortunately, sometimes it takes time and patience for everything to come to fruition. Daniel knows me and understands that.

"But enough of that. Take a break. You both have earned it. Now go get some sleep, you've already been up far longer than you've been awake temporally."

Harry and Hermione both yawned when they thought about it. "You're right," he said.

Yeshua laughed. "I always am. Now scoot. I have some work to do myself." And he faded out.

Yawning, they both went to their dorms and fell into a deep, but restless, slumber.

**Just outside Hogwarts' wards**

A beautiful blue beetle was buzzing around hogsmeade, heading towards Hogwarts, looking for a scoop. There were some unusual things happening there, and she was going to get some juicy tidbits, she just knew it! She hummed in a tiny insect voice as she buzzed along. And hit something solid. She fell down and found herself transformed back into her typical, gaudy self.

And immediately found the headmistress of Hogwarts, looking down at her with her wand pointed between her eyes, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Well, well, well," she said. "What do we have here? Rita Skeeter, an unregistered animagus? That certainly explains a lot, doesn't it?"

"McGonagall, I can explain -" is all she got out before she saw a red light and everything went black. When she came to, she found herself in a ministry holding cell. There seemed to be far more people around her than she was expecting, and many of them seemed to be moaning and screaming, as if they were suffering from long-term dementor exposure. Which, actually, they were. Healers from St. Mungos had come around to treat them but there were so many it was hard to keep up. Hmm, that might be a scoop - whenever she gets out. Amazing, she thought, how no one cared about the prisoners until they actually came face to face with their suffering.

Rita was an opportunist and thought nothing of damaging peoples' lives for her own personal gain. But as she listened to the prisoners moaning, she wondered at what cost the ministry was enabling such suffering. Maybe that was something to look into once she got out.

But, seriously, how was she to know that Hogwarts had finally come to its senses and fixed the wards to keep her out?

**Amelia Bones' Office**

Amelia Bones, the head of the DMLE, put her head in her hands. So many things had happened in the last twenty-four hours she could barely keep her head on straight, and more seemed to keep happening. Most of pureblood society died, an entire department of the Ministry had been sealed, though she couldn't remember exactly what it was for some reason, Azkaban had fallen and she was trying to keep up with the prisoners in the holding cells, and she had an angry French husband and wife sitting across from her, yelling in French. And she couldn't speak French. She wearily held up her hand. "Can you speak English?", she asked. They shook their heads. She held up a finger and pulled a translation quill out of her desk. She set it down and then they started yelling again. Finally, after a headache inducing fifteen minutes, she managed to get across that their daughter could be found in St. Mungos, her abusers had been brought to justice, and her treatment was already paid for. They promised they would return for proof that justice had been served, and stomped off to St. Mungos to see their daughter.

The problem was that she had no such proof, just the word of the Champion. She knew she could trust that, but how was she to explain that to two angry parents whose daughter had been violated and could only speak French?

But she'd worry about that when the time came. There were more people coming into the morgue, apparently. They were on the ministry payroll but no one could explain why. How the hell was she going to explain _this_? After all the Death Eaters, then the fall of… wait.

Wait just a minute.

She ran out of her office and down to the holding cells. Sure enough, there was Sirius Black, looking at her with haunted eyes that seemed relatively unaffected by the dementors, even over ten years.

"Siri! Why aren't you dead?," she blurted.

"And nice to see you too, Ami", he said, wryly.

"I mean, all the Death Eaters died, but… oh SHIT", she said, suddenly realizing what must have happened, especially with Pettigrew in the morgue with a _freshly dead_ body.

"Were you ever a Death Eater, Siri?," she asked.

"Of course not. And that would have been clear _if I'd ever gotten a trial_".

She put her head in her hands again. She didn't get paid enough for this. There weren't enough Galleons in the world for this.

"Hang tight, Siri, we'll make this right. Someone's really upending Magical Britain right now and the morgue is filling up even as we speak, and this time we don't even know why. I'll get you a trial, but it might be a little while before everything calms down."

"Is that why I'm here and not in Azkaban?"

"Pretty much. Someone destroyed Azkaban and all its dementors. And did it all with only barely moving from the spot he was standing on. And that's _after_ he killed all the Death Eaters."

Sirius whistled.

"That's impressive. Anyway, Ami, the law says if I don't get a trial without sixty days, I'm held illegally and the charges must be dropped. It's just a wee bit past that now, don't you think?"

She sighed. "Yes, but if just release you now someone will just curse you and bring you back in, maybe even alive. We have to do this the legal way. Tell you what, I'll tell the aurors to make sure you get better food and some good reading material, and we'll get you out as soon as I can get the paperwork done. I promise I won't forget. But there's just so much…"

She looked so henpecked that he actually took pity on her. "You do that, and get me out within two days and I'll make sure my lawyers leave you out of it when they sue the ministry for all it's got. You didn't put me in here, after all."

She nodded. "I think I can do that. I hope things calm down soon. I need sleep!", she said.

He grinned wolfishly.

She blushed, for the first time she could remember in a very long time, and stalked out of the holding cells. Great, more to do, _and_ he's trying to start where we left off. She made sure to tell the auror in charge that Sirius was to get some special treatment, and stalked back to her office. Sleep… need sleep… she thought.

A/N: This took me a while to figure out. I had to actually stop winging it and actually do some planning. I hope you like the result. I can't tell you much about why the DoM turned out as it did without ruining some of the plot, but you'll find out more about that in the next few chapters.

I wish to respond to one reviewer who gave me a very thorough Japanese lesson - we've been in touch over PM and have had some nice conversations, so this isn't a response to him or her specifically, but I just want to make it clear for the record for everyone else: I've been studying Japanese for a year and a half. I'm close to, but not quite at the level to, being able to pass the JLPT N5. I'm only saying this because I don't want anyone to get the idea that I'm just looking up Japanese in Jisho and stuffing it in without knowing what I'm doing. :-) I hate it when people do that. Honestly.

There's still plenty for Harry to do. The DoM is the biggest problem that needs to be dealt with right now, but is not the only one. Once that mystery start to wind down, we'll have to do something about the Ministry. It's still quite corrupt, don't you think? And he's put Ms. Bones in quite a pickle. Wouldn't be surprised if she has to make use of that bracelet a few times to get out of the mess he got her into…

8/3/19: Added some details to the story and fixed spelling and grammatical errors. I am not making any significant changes to the plot when I do this, so you don't need to reread if you don't want.

8/21/19: Fixed McGonagall's name.


	5. Revelation

**Revelation**

**The Great Hall, Hogwarts**

The next morning had the hall in a ruckus like had not been seen in many a year, as owls from everywhere swooped down and delivered their parcels. Most of them carried a "Daily Prophet", but many more contained letters for children, and many letters for Harry, and a few Howlers as well. Apparently some people had figured that he could have been the only one to have defeated Voldemort, and thus, caused the problems. He looked pleadingly at the headmistress, who had mercy on him and destroyed the howlers, as technically he couldn't use his wand anymore. He also gave her a significant look, and she nodded. That was another hole in the wards they'd have to fill. The rest of his mail he mentally asked Hogwarts to send to his dorm, and a little creature popped in, took it, and popped out. He made a note to ask Hogwarts about that as soon as he could. What were those little guys, and were they a security risk?

He found a discarded Daily Prophet and looked at the headlines.

_43 People Found Dead - All of Them Had the Dark Mark_

_Azkaban Razed - Dementors Destroyed_

_Albus Dumbledore Retires as Supreme Mugwump, Chief Warlock, and Headmaster of Hogwarts_

_Two Hogwarts Teachers Dead_

_Minister Fudge and Undersecretary Umbridge Abruptly Resign, Ministry in Chaos_

_St. Mungos Children's Ward Receives Large Anonymous Donation_

_Is Sirius Black Innocent?_

He sighed. So much happened in just twenty four hours, and he was literally in the center of it all. It was actually too much to think about, and he knew it was just the start. And tomorrow's would contain even more news. Thankfully, any children who were affected by the unspeakables' judgement the night before was few, and frankly no one even knew what to make of that, so they were just called aside individually and no formal notice was given. It turns out most unspeakables, for whatever reason, chose not to marry or have children.

He figured any announcements as to new teachers would be given that night, so he didn't worry too much about the empty seats. He did have a suspicion about a few things, though, so he asked Hermione if he could borrow her copy of "Hogwarts, a History". She looked shocked that he would even ask, but she did as he requested, and he went up to the Room, by himself this time, and started reading.

Within a few minutes, he put the book down. He couldn't believe what he was reading. At one time Hogwarts was not just a school that prepared students to take OWLs and NEWTs, which didn't exist at the time, it was also an institute of higher learning and taught much, much more advanced subjects. Apparently, a few years after founding, the school taught Level five masteries - to students ranging to forty or fifty years old - topics such as magical engineering, subatomic transfiguration, datamancy… the amount of topics that were covered were amazing to behold (It took him a while to figure out what the topics even _were_, in fact, because they were called by different names in the eleventh century). The first years were taught classes such as Magical Theory, Fundamental Construction of the Universe, The Nature of Magic, etc. It appeared the classes that were offered were designed to teach them a great deal about how magic worked and was constructed, and there was no mention of wanded magic anywhere until at least fourth year, and that seemed to be almost an afterthought. They appeared to consider wanded magic to be important, but it was only a branch of many other magical disciplines that they were teaching and studying, some of which seemed far, far more interesting to him.

He flipped forward a few centuries, and the classes seemed to become even more advanced, until at about the time the Ministry came into being, the classes offered seemed to become fewer and fewer, and wands more and more pronounced, and it was only a few scant generations before all of those previous classes were forgotten. Reading between the lines, this appeared to be because the Ministry created OWL and NEWT exams and, because they were from the ministry, they became the gold standard against what an educated wizard would be. It didn't take very long before Hogwarts turned into a typical secondary school for children and all of that knowledge was forgotten.

No _wonder_ the school was so big and so little of it in use now, he thought. It's not being used for what it was built for. It was built for far more than just teaching seven years of students how to wave a wand and stopper death.

This solidified his suspicion: The Ministry of Magic was, in part, created by the Guardians of the Arches to control education.

But, he thought, what else is the ministry used for? Certainly it's used for law enforcement, as ineffective as they generally may be at it, and that's certainly a perfectly valid use for a government. It's also used for relations with other countries and peoples, and of course a government, as a representative of its people, would be useful for such a thing. In fact, he thought, this might have been how the Guardians got their mitts into the whole thing in the first place.

But the other use that the Ministry seemed to have was to regulate transportation. It seemed that all forms of magical transportation were regulated by the ministry: portkeys, apparition, and floo. Also, they seemed to be very interested in keeping children from learning about magic before they were introduced in a school, though the purebloods had found ways around that with clever uses of warding.

He thought for a while. It was starting to look like something about those arches _really_ freaked out the people who discovered them. So much so that they seemed to deliberately hide any of the knowledge that would allow people even come close to figuring out how they worked. Other forms of transportation still existed, but they were heavily regulated so that people were discouraged from figuring out anything about them. Eventually the knowledge was lost and the disconnected arches were used as execution devices. Except, in their ignorance, they were actually sentencing people to a fate worse than death.

He was just a first year in many ways, of course, but it seemed that no one seemed to understand, at all, how the existing magical transportation options actually worked. It was as if they were trained monkeys who knew how to push the proper buttons to get food, but had no concept of how the process of getting food from the buttons actually _worked_. And, it seemed, in nearly all cases, not even any interest. He knew that in the muggle world not everyone was a scientist, but if the unspeakables were the best the magical world had to offer for research and development, no _wonder_ they were in such a dark age. The Guardians had done their work far too well.

He also wanted to check out another theory. He looked towards the back of the book, and saw that for the last fifty years or so, there had been, at least one DADA professor per year. They either met their ends in a grisly way, retired, died of old age, or just simply moved on. That… didn't seem to make sense. So he closed the book and left the room, and walked to the DADA teacher's office. There appeared to be a tour going on, so he waited until all of the students left, and then walked in. He was looking for a bit of magic that didn't seem to fit. Ahh, there it was. On the chair and the desk. Anyone who sat in the chair and then touched the desk was jinxed to not last in the position past the school year.

He had a suspicion who was responsible.

"Magic, I command you. Unmake any magics that Tom Riddle created while he was alive that still persist."

The jinxes vanished.

Satisfied, he walked out.

Somewhere in Little Hangleton, the Gaunt Shack collapsed. No one noticed. And a few hundred inferi in a cave off the coast disintegrated, after which the cave collapsed. No one noticed that either.

He went back to the Room and asked for the Heart of Hogwarts.

Hogwarts faded in as usual, and curtsied politely. "What can I do for you, my heir?"

"We need to make a modification to the wards. Mail that has anything harmful on or in it, and howlers, needs to be stopped at the wards and sent to the Ministry for investigation. Can you do that?"

She thought for a moment. "It's done."

"Have any of the changes that we've made made any significant dent in the magical usage or runic capacity of the school?"

"Not appreciably, no", she said. "All of the new wards required about one tenth of a percent more available energy, and the runic capacity went down by one quarter of a percent."

He marveled. "This is one powerful school".

"You should see it in lockdown", she said. "It takes about 10% total power and is a sight to behold."

"May we never be forced to take that step," he said, quietly.

"From your lips to Yeshua's ears", she said.

"Hogwarts, what was it like in the beginning?"

She sighed wistfully. "Oh, such magic you've never seen," she said. "They were unravelling the mysteries of the Universe. Some of their experiments, though… I was scared that they were going to destroy half of England."

"Oh? Why?"

"Oh, they knew what they were doing, don't get me wrong," she said. "None of their experiments got out of hand. But they were playing with energies that frightened me."

"Rituals?"

"Oh, worse than rituals. Well, most of them, anyway. The primordial energies of the Universe, exposed before our very eyes. Did you see those ethereal pipes holding the ley lines together? And the ethereal wardstones containing the runic arrays in the… what do you call it now again… computer room? I mentioned before that they aren't entirely matter. They're not entirely energy either. Honestly, I don't know exactly what it is. I couldn't repair it, but you couldn't destroy it, either. Not _even _you, I believe. But if those primordial energies had gotten away from them…" She shivered. "It would have been the end of me and half of England."

He said to himself, "And yet those arches are what scared them…"

"Arches?", she said, her eyes widening. "I remember hearing about those from some of the high level mastery students. They were ancient artifacts, many thousands of years old, and they were close to figuring out how to make them work. I believe they even managed to open one. Something really scared them. I mean really, really scared them. They immediately stopped all research and that's when things started to become how they are today."

"What scared them?"

"I don't know," she said. "I miss those days, though. There was so much energy, so many people… and now… I love the children, don't get me wrong, but this school is but a shadow of what it used to be."

"I think I'm slowly beginning to piece together why that is the case, Hogwarts. I hope someday we can restore it to its former glory - _greater_ than its former glory."

She sighed wistfully. "I hope so, heir. Even though their experiments frightened me, they were fascinating. I wish I could remember what they were, but a few of my memories seem to have been locked away. I do remember that they were scary, but amazing to watch."

"I have another question for you. When I asked for the mail to be taken to my dorm, a small creature popped in to take it. What was that?"

"You don't know?", she said, surprised. "Oh, yes. I remember. You weren't born in this world. Those are house elves. No one knows what they are or where they came from, but they gain their energy, happiness, and life from serving wizards."

"So they are slaves?", he said, quizzically.

"Not exactly. In one sense, I suppose you could say they are, but in return for their servitude, they get a small bit of their owner's magic. Enough to keep them alive and happy. If they are slaves, they are willing slaves. Some people treat theirs well. Some treat theirs so badly that they would rather be free and die from loss of magic than continue working for their family. It's on a case by case basis."

"I see. But something still seems wrong with this. It seems a bit too convenient."

"I see what you mean, my heir. But I am but a school. I do not know the secrets of the Universe."

"No, certainly not. Nonetheless, your help has been invaluable today. You remember more than most."

"That I do, my heir. I have been in existence for over a thousand years now. I have seen, and experienced, much in my lifetime. And I hope I will see much more, for as long as this school, exists, I will."

"Will you go to the afterlife someday?"

"I don't know. Maybe you could ask Yeshua the next time you speak to him. I admit to being curious about the answer as well, though I have no idea how a school could be ensouled. I only know myself to be sentient."

"I will ask. It may be one of those things that none will know until the time comes."

"Just so, my heir. Is there anything else?"

"What is the general mood of the school?", he asked.

She frowned. "Many are pensive. Some are grieving. Many changes have happened quickly and they have not had time to process them. Madam Pomfrey is a competent healer, but she is not a mind healer. Perhaps the school should consider putting one on staff."

"That, my lady, is an excellent idea. I will bring it up with the Headmistress as soon as I can."

Hogwarts blushed prettily at the title of endearment, in spite of herself. Curse being embodied sometimes. She had good control of her body, but not perfect. A good compliment could get to her as well as it could any other woman.

"Why, though, can't you bring these subjects up with her yourself?"

"I am the school's protector, just as you are," she said. "We are not supposed to interfere with the educational aspects of the school. So I keep my interactions with the current headmaster to a minimum unless the school is in danger. It is unfortunate that previous headmasters, for their own reasons, have chosen not to listen to me in that regard. However, the mental health of the students is within our purview as a part of the protection of the school. Perhaps the Headmistress would listen to me better than her predecessor did. Certainly she will listen to you. Her current actions speak well of her and have already repelled one non-dangerous but very annoying attacker. It is true that she couldn't have stopped you, but she agreed with the given course of action, and that speaks well of her."

"Is that attacker something I should be concerned about?", he asked.

"No", she waved dismissively. "Just an animagus who had been sneaking into the school for her own purposes. She is now in ministry custody. She is not a part of any concerted effort to infiltrate the school. That is why I classed her as 'annoying'. Even 'attacker' is a strong word, though those she targeted did indeed tend to suffer. She was, after all, a journalist, and a particularly rotten one as well. She was using her skills to get scoops."

"I see", he said. "Sounds like an obnoxious character indeed. Thank you for letting me know and taking care of the situation."

"It is my privilege and duty, my heir", she said. "Trust that I will let you know of anything truly dangerous. She is but a trifle, easily dealt with now that I have the authority to do so."

"It seems authority is the word of the week, is it not?"

"Just so, my heir. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, you may go. I will return to speak with you soon."

"I look forward to it, my heir. Until then", she curtsied and faded out.

**Headmistress's Office, Hogwarts**

Harry knocked on the door to McGonagall's office, and he heard "Enter", from the other side. He did.

"Oh, Hello, Mr. Potter", she said. "What can I do for you?"

"Sorry to bother you, Headmistress", he said. "I have a few matters to discuss. They should not take more than a few minutes of your valuable time."

She sighed and put her head in her hands. "Honestly, Mr. Potter, I could use the break. Between interviews and paperwork and just trying to keep the students busy while we sort everything out, I'm about ready to walk out, myself."

He chuckled to himself. "I think a few people in the Ministry feel the same way."

"No doubt", she said. "And I thought we had it bad here in Hogwarts this week."

"I have two items for you. The first is that Hogwarts has adjusted the wards so that no tainted mail or howlers may get through. The owls will, but their contents will be sent to the evidence room at the Ministry of Magic. You may wish to make Ms. Bones aware of this change."

"Noted."

"Next up is more important. Hogwarts and I, as the heir of Hogwarts, have a responsibility to the safety and protection of the students in the school. We have noted that many traumatic events have occurred over the past twenty-four hours, and the school does not have a mind-healer."

"Mr. Potter, even though I agree with you, we do not have the funds this year to hire any new staff."

"I figured as much, Headmistress. As you may have guessed, I recently became the recipient of many old family fortunes by way of conquest. I will expect the board of governors to make the appropriate appropriations for next year, but for this school year, you may hire a competent mind healer at a competitive salary and I will pay for their salary. In return, I expect you to use all of the resources at your disposal to ensure that you can afford to keep them on for next year. If I may make a suggestion, perhaps Filch is ready for retirement? He does little that the House Elves or Hogwarts cannot, and he tends to be particularly mean and intimidating to the students."

"Mr. Potter, considering the current staff problems that I have had to cancel classes for two days to address, it may be a while before I can even consider any further staff changes. Put frankly, I'm pulled in far too many directions and too many things are getting dropped as it is. Nonetheless, your offer is appreciated, and I will take it under advisement as soon as I have enough time to sneak a headache potion. Not to sound rude, Mr. Potter, but I have another interview scheduled very soon. Can I give you an answer in a few days?"

"Certainly, Headmistress. I assume you will have no issues, though, if I bring one in for a few days that students can take advantage of if they need to?"

"That will be acceptable, Mr. Potter, and thank you for your generosity."

"I will make the necessary arrangements, then. Please do not let the students know who is paying for their services," he said politely, "One more thing, Headmistress," he said, and she frowned, obviously needing to get other stuff done. He raised his hand in a placating gesture. "It may make your search significantly easier if I tell you that I removed the jinx on the DADA position today. It took effect if someone sat in the office chair and then touched the desk."

Her mouth gaped. "We've been trying to find that jinx for fifty years, Mr. Potter. How did you -"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Headmistress. I see you are busy. I will take my leave. Good day, Headmistress," he said with a jaunty wave.

She smiled for the first time, having seen a glimmer of James in him just then. "And good day to you, Mr. Potter.", she said, mind already preparing for her interview. He closed the door, and doubted that she noticed.

He walked over to Madam Pomfrey's office. She immediately bustled over to him. "How can I help you?", she asked.

"Madam Pomfrey, My name is Harry Potter. I have just come from a meeting with the Headmistress, where she has authorized me to pay for a mind healer to come in for a few days to assist the students with the traumatic events of the last couple of days. Can you please find a competent one and offer them a competitive rate? Please make clear that there is a potential for the contract to be extended for at least a year if their performance is satisfactory."

This was not the first time he saw a member of the staff gape like a fish, but it was no less funny.

"Guh - wha"

"Madam Pomfrey, I am about to give you a piece of information that I expect you to keep to yourself. I am a Founder's Heir. I am responsible for the protection of the school, and having people with untreated trauma is a danger to the school and the students. Please do this for me. Let me know how many galleons you need and I will provide them."

She finally regained the power of speech. "That is most generous of you, Mr. Potter. I will see if I can have someone here by this evening."

"Please make clear that they need to be here for twenty-four hour days during this week-long contract, will be provided with offices and sleeping quarters, must be on call throughout this time for emergencies, and will be compensated appropriately. Any extension will be negotiated separately, so that is all that is expected of them at this time."

"That may make things a little more difficult, but I think I know someone."

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey. Once you have an agreement for someone's services, please let the Headmistress know, so they can be found suitable quarters and be announced in the Great Hall tonight."

"I will do that, Mr. Potter."

"Then I shall leave it in your capable hands, Madam Pomfrey. And remember. It's a secret, alright?"

She put her finger to her lips and smiled.

"Good day to you, Madam Pomfrey."

"And to you, Mr. Potter", she said, and bustled off to make the necessary arrangements.

**Great Hall, Hogwarts**

That evening, everyone was seated at their tables patiently waiting for dinner, when McGonagall stood up. There were three additional people sitting at the head table.

"Before we eat, students, I have a few announcements. The first is that we have found a Potions teacher. Please meet Professor Ophelia Greengrass. She is a retired potions master, but has agreed to come out of retirement to teach potions for just this year. Of course, we will see if we can convince her to stick around." The room tittered. An older lady, with platinum grey hair that looked a lot like Daphne, stood and bowed, then sat down.

"We have also found a Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. Please welcome Professor Nicholas Flamel."

There was a gasp throughout the school, and the murmurs did not die down for a full minute. McGonagall waited patiently.

"Yes, Professor Flamel is the alchemist most noted for the Sorcerer's Stone, and is currently the oldest living human in existence, at, what, 649 years now?"

"My birthday's tomorrow, so 648", Professor Flamel grinned, and the room laughed.

"Well, Happy birthday, Professor Flamel. I would say "And many more" but that's pretty much a given at this point, right?"

He laughed. "At my age, I take nothing for granted." Even though his age was 648, he didn't look a day over 40, with a full head of hair and sparkling eyes.

"Well, may I say, you don't look a day over 647."

He laughed, a full throated laugh. "Good one, Minnie", he said.

She felt the heat rise in her face. Harry had never seen her blush before but apparently being in your 600s taught you a few things about how to discombulate prim and proper older ladies. The rest of the school tittered quietly as well, as they also saw her reaction. Forget his fame, half the school already liked him just for that. Fred and George looked like they'd just eaten a canary. All the detentions would be worth it, and the best part was, it didn't use magic! MgConagle noticed and her lips pursed. She knew what was coming.

"Well, ahem… Those classes will be starting next week, as Professor Flamel has some business to finish up first. For a professor of his stature and renown, we believe that is a small price to pay for his expertise and experience."

He stood up and bowed, then sat down again.

"I have one more person to introduce. We have brought in a mind healer for the next week. As people who have lost parents have or will be returning to the school, and some of you are friends with those people, we thought it would be prudent to have someone here who could help you. All visits with a mind healer are confidential - even from me. She has taken an oath never to reveal your secrets unless they involve immediate harm to yourself or others. She will have regular office hours, but will be staying twenty-four hours for one week, in case of crisis. If you have any need of her services, please sign up at her office for an open slot. Her services are free of charge to any teachers or students. As appropriate, any teacher may assign detentions with her as well, subject, of course, to her availability. At the end of a week we will decide whether to continue her services. Please welcome Adjunct Professor Diana Smith."

A short, but well-proportioned woman stood up and bowed. There was scattered applause, but again a lot of murmuring. Ms. Smith didn't seem to mind.

"Now that we have finally addressed the staff issues, classes will be resuming tomorrow. Please start with the schedule appropriate to that day, and we will move forward from there. If you have Defense this week, please use the time to study your textbook. Please, of course, direct any questions to your head of house.

"Now, the moment you have all been waiting for - the food arrives.", and as she waved her arms, all the students began to dig in.

Harry noticed Daphne and her… grandmother? share a significant look, then she glanced at Harry and picked at her food some more. The mystery deepened.

Over the rest of the week, the routine finally started for real. Harry attended his classes by rote and found them boring, but he went through the motions to keep up appearances, as did Hermione. Kamiko and John were struggling a little bit more, but Harry and Hermione had agreed to set aside some time for tutoring, and they really appreciated that. They weren't deliberately leaving them _out_ of things, but it was time that they paid attention to their schoolwork. There would be plenty for them to do once they graduated. They seemed to understand, and Harry and Hermione made sure to spend time with them just as friends, sometimes alternating between the Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw tables. They were usually received coolly at the Slytherin table, welcomed somewhat warmly at the Ravenclaw table, but the Gryffindor table was a little different.

See, it appears that Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley did not get along. At all. Even the littlest, tiniest bit. Draco hated being a Gryffindor, and Ron hated Slytherins. So the fact that Draco even wanted to be a Slytherin made him a "slimy snake". So the interactions got really complicated when Harry, being a Slytherin, came over the table to sit with Kamiko and John. Ron hated Harry because he was Slytherin, Draco hated Harry because he thought he was responsible for his sorting into Gryffindor, and it became a real mess very quickly. Toss in the fact that students were allowed to sit at whatever table they wanted except for during the feasts, and it usually came to Ron and Draco almost coming to blows. Usually they both went for Harry, got in each others' way, and started going after each other, while the four of them just ate their food and watched the show. Whatever was going on, Gryffindor was losing a _lot_ of house points. Kamiko and John said things were even worse in the common room. He told them to let him know if it got too bad, because that's the kind of thing that could turn into a threat to the safety of the school if allowed to get out of hand. After all, they could use their wands in the common room, and if someone got caught in the crossfire… he made sure to let Hogwarts know to keep an eye on the situation too. Draco was honestly coming really close to violating his vassal status and losing his inheritance, but Harry was content to leave that and watch the show for the time being. Harry already had so much money he broke Gringotts' charms, so it wasn't as if he needed it, and Draco had just lost both his parents. He was inclined to be tolerant for a while.

Otherwise people at the Gryffindor table were pretty friendly, though two redheads named Fred and George Weasley seemed a little depressed. Turns out they were notorious pranksters and the new wards made pranking nearly impossible. Harry didn't feel too bad for them. It was a fine line between pranking and bullying, and those two didn't seem to understand that. According to others, they didn't cross the line often, but the few times they did, they _really_ did.

He figured they needed to make a friend or two in Hufflepuff, but that wasn't very high on his list of priorities. Not that it wasn't important, but it was low on the important things list. First save the world, then make a concerted effort to make a friend in Hufflepuff.

The weekend finally came. Harry had been told by Yeshua that someone would come and explain a little more, so he was a little more antsy than usual. He decided to take a walk around the lake on Saturday, and as he walked by a bench, there was Nicolas Flamel in all his glory.

He invited Harry to sit next to him, and he did.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?", Professor Flamel said.

"Yeah, it sure is," Harry replied.

"Kind of a blessing from Jesus, don't you think," Professor Flamel asked, wish a smirk on his face. Harry turned to look at him, with an astonished look on his face.

"You-"

"Yes, me", he laughed. "Come on, my Champion. Let's talk somewhere more private. Lead the way."

**The Room of Requirement**

They walked into the room, and Flamel - he told Harry to call him Nick on the way to the room - looked around curiously. "What an amazing room", he said.

"It can be anything you want it to become."

Nick smiled. "I remember the days when this type of magic wasn't so… spectacular", he said.

"Yeshua said he would send someone who might help me solve a puzzle. Is that you?"

"Yes, it is. Jesus asked me to take the position as DADA teacher, and so, I reached out to McGonagall. She was ever so grateful, particularly to have someone with my…. notoriety… on the staff."

"Honestly, classes were cancelled for two days while she figured it out."

"I hear she fixed the wards so that kind of thing can't happen again."

"We did, yes."

"Good. Voldemort was nothing but a two-bit dark lord. The way your people responded to him was appalling. He would have won, you know."

"I do. It was nothing but a freak accident that killed him the first time"

Flamel got an intense look on his face. "Look. There are no accidents. There's no reason why you should have survived that curse. I know there were some sacrificial magics going on there, but many other people die from the killing curse and their sacrifice helps no one. That wasn't an accident, Harry. Sometimes Jesus answers prayers that weren't even yet spoken.

"But even with that said, the whole situation with Voldemort partly my fault. I think it's time I made some confessions. I hear confession is good for the soul, right? Jesus told me you are his champion, and he told me he is raising more champions. So why don't you tell me what you've figured out so far, and I'll see if I can fill in the blanks?"

"Okay. We have figured out that the Department of Mysteries is actually a branch of a worldwide organization called the Guardians of the Arches. They seem to be centered around the arches, one of which is in the British Department of Mysteries. A few hundred years ago, researchers figured out how to open the arches. Immediately after, they stopped their research, hid all of their knowledge, and formed a group that seemed specifically designed to keep people from ever learning how to open an arch again."

Nick looked surprised. "That's… actually pretty close to what happened. But let me explain the pieces you're missing.

"First of all, the sorcerer's stone is bunk. It's just a piece of red stone. I believe that I have not been allowed to age in six hundred years because otherwise what I am about to tell you would be completely lost. It was a gift of Jesus. Maybe soon I will move on now. Maybe not. Either way, I experienced everything that you just described. For I was one of the first unspeakables.

"Back then, we had almost unraveled the mysteries of the Universe. We could do things that today, neither wizard nor non-magical alike could even conceive of. And our research continued at a frenetic pace. But we did not understand the forces that we were unleashing, nor did we understand the consequences of our research. But there were even more ancient artifacts, such as the Arch and the City of Atlantis, that we did not understand. We were attempting to unravel its secrets, and it gave some up to us, after much research and experimentation. We learned how to open the Arch."

Nick shivered. "The minute we did, demons started flooding out. A full hundred or so came out before we were able to close the Arch, and many were dead by the time we managed to get them corralled. Nothing we were able to do would kill them, just herd them and keep them away from us. After some effort, and the help of many people around the world, we managed to get them herded onto an island in the North Sea, imprisoned them in wards, and made sure they could never escape while we figured out what to do from there.

"You see, young one, we didn't understand the forces we were unleashing with our reckless experimentation, and it scared the bejeezus out of us. So we decided to hide all of our knowledge for a later time when we were more mature and able to use it properly. Not only did that time never come, but as time passed, the Guardians of the Arches forgot what their original purpose was, and started doing their own 'research and development'. They were about two or three thousand years behind where we were when we hid the knowledge, and they were undisciplined and amoral. Jesus told me what you did to them. It was the right thing.

"Ministries of Magic all over the world began to appear, with the carrot that law enforcement was needed as well as the basic aspects of government that were beginning to take root in the non-magical world as well. It is remarkable how easy it is to manipulate a government. They changed education standards to only require knowledge of wanded magic. They regulated all known forms of transport, to discourage people from trying to figure out how it worked. And it all worked. The ministries started to go their own way, and the Guardians of the Arches were content to masquerade through it all as simple departments of local governments.

"You know the fifteenth minister of magic tried to disband them, and they just ignored him, right?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Wait… island off the North Sea.."

He nodded. "Yes, Harry. The dementors were the demons that came flooding out of the arch. It was the dementors that came first. Azkaban was not originally a prison for people. It was a prison for demons."

Harry did the most unexpected thing at that moment, and started laughing.

Nick looked puzzled. "What's so funny?"

"You almost had it!", he said, still chortling. "The Arch is a transportation device. You activated it, but you didn't know what it was. It was set to nowhere. If you had just known how to use it properly, you would have unmasked a discovery of incredible proportions!"

Nick looked close to tears. "All that, because we were reckless. Nearly four hundred years lost."

Yeshua chose that moment to appear and cleared his throat.

Nick jumped up and knelt down, face to the floor. "My Lord!", he said.

Yeshua chuckled. "Get up, Nick. We have work to do."

"How come I've never seen you before?"

"Because of the nature of this room, it takes considerably less energy to manifest here. I can manifest everywhere, of course, but it's a little easier here."

Yeshua conjured another chair and sat down. "You both pretty much have it figured out now. But don't be too hard on yourself, Nick. I ordained it so, for a short time."

"Why?"

"You were too far ahead of the non-magicals. If you had progressed much further at that point, one of two things would have happened: it would have become more difficult to keep secrecy, or you would have stopped caring and run roughshod over them. I had to stop you for a little while. But the non-magicals have caught up, and they're a short time from discovering some of the same things that you did. But that can't be allowed to happen either. The worlds must be integrated. Their science is advanced enough that it is possible now. In fact, it is about thirty years from becoming advanced enough to answer questions that your research was unable to answer. The approached the problems from a completely different direction, created different tools, disciplines, and theories, and you will find their studies to be _very_ enlightening.

"The first step, though, is that we had to get rid of the Guardians. They were no longer needed, and their research was going pretty much nowhere in the best case. Thanks to Harry here, that step was accomplished. The second step is to raise champions all over the world, with the same control of magic that Harry here has in Great Britain, and all loyal to me."

"What are we working towards, My Lord?", Nick asked.

"The New Jerusalem is coming, Nick. When we are done, there will be no more death, no more tears, no more sorrow or crying, because all things will have been made new, and the old will have passed away. I have returned."

Nick was truly in tears now. "I never thought I would see the day…"

Yeshua smiled. "It has come. The Kingdom of God on earth is finally at hand. Nick, say the word, please."

Nick said, very clearly: "Shibboleth".

And the room changed to a giant hall, with walls further away than the eyes could see, with books and other artifacts on shelves, some with no known or guessable purpose, stretching out to the horizon on all sides.

Yeshua smiled. "The knowledge has returned."

Harry gaped. "It was here all along!"

Nick smiled. "What better place than one of the best warded places in the world, with its own sentience and sufficient magic to create a room with powerful enough magic to hide anything? Yes, it was here all along. It will take you a lifetime to explore it. Find people you trust, and bring the knowledge back. I would caution you against misusing it, but Jesus is in charge now. That will not happen."

Yeshua smiled. "No. My plan will come to fruition. All people on the earth, and beyond, shall live in harmony. And you, Harry, will be the one to make it happen. Do me proud", he said, and faded out.

Suddenly, a thought struck him. "Oh no. If I show Hermione this, I'll never find her again."

Nick laughed. "Just like my Perenelle. It's not going away, my Champion. There will be time. And there is still much to do to make the world ready for this knowledge."

Harry smiled. "Yes, indeed. Much to do." And together, they walked out of the room, as the door sealed itself after them. The knowledge was still safe.

A/N: How's _that_ for a twist?

Don't worry, the story's not over. There's still a lot of "Ministerial" inertia that needs to be overcome before this knowledge can ever be known _of_. The Guardians did their job very well, at least in the beginning. And of course, there's the mystery of little Miss Greengrass.

Oh, one more thing. You may notice that Yeshua speaks differently to Nick. He is using scriptural references. That is because Nick is a Christian of some denomination and is familiar with scripture, so Yeshua speaks in that language with him. Harry, believe it or not, is not a Christian. So Yeshua speaks with him much more directly. This is also why Flamel calls him Jesus. That is the name he is familiar with. Yeshua doesn't mind. Like? Review.

8/3/19: Added details and some grammatical fixes. I also changed Nick to use the name "Jesus", because it does not make sense that an Augustinian Christian would not.

8/21/19: Fixed McGonagall's name.


	6. Daphne's Very Bad Day

**Daphne's Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day**

**Headmistress McGonagall's Office**

Harry knocked on the door of the Headmistress's office. "Enter", she called, as usual, and he did.

"Hello, Headmistress. I trust things are going a little better for you now?"

She smiled. A prim smile, nonetheless, but a smile. "Indeed. Nicolas Flamel was a fortuitous addition to the school, and hopefully will help restore Hogwarts' reputation after the disastrous last few years."

"I agree", he said. "I think you will find Professor Flamel to be a wealth of knowledge and experience beyond that which even you expect."

"Oh?", she said, "and why is that?"

He smiled. "He was alive when people understood how the Heart of Hogwarts was made."

She made an O with her face. "And he still remembers?", she asked amazedly.

"I'm sure not all of it, as he is but one man, but some of it, yes, I'm sure he does. He will bring an entirely new perspective to magic that this world is sorely missing."

"I look forward to seeing that", she said. "I may just sit in on one of his lessons."

"I think you would learn quite a bit, actually, Professor", Harry said. "In fact, I think that would be beneficial for all the staff. But with all that out of the way, I have two things I need to bring to your attention. One is not pleasant. The other, I think you will find quite… enlightening. But let's get the unpleasantness out of the way first."

She nodded. "Proceed, Mr. Potter."

He stated flatly. "Both members of the Gryffindor House and Hogwarts herself have been telling me about a situation that is growing out of control. Two members of your house are feuding with each other, and the crossfire is starting to spread to others. Remember that they can use wands in the common room, and they _are_."

She sighed. "Mr. Potter, I understand your concerns. I share them. It is not an excuse, but the truth is, I have been stretched too thin lately to pay attention to my Head of House duties, and it is due to my inattention that this has been allowed to fester."

Harry nodded. "You're right that it's not an excuse, but given the past few days, it's certainly understandable You have quite a few problems to deal with that were not of your making. But I come with solutions, not only problems", he said with effected magnanimousness, and she smiled in spite of herself. "May I suggest that Professor Flamel be made Head of House of Gryffindor?"

"The person who is Head of House must have been sorted into that house, Mr. Potter. Surely you know that."

"Indeed. But Mr. Flamel went to Bauxbatons. He was never sorted. You can either put the sorting hat on him and hope for the best, or add "Honorary Gryffindor" to one of the many titles he's earned over the years and let him take care of business. I daresay his experience for the job is unassailable."

She smiled. "You were definitely sorted correctly, Mr. Potter. That is a splendid idea, and you are correct that I can think of no one more qualified for the job. I shall see to it."

"And please suggest, _strongly_, that the two of them be sent to detention with the mind healer, who will be here for a few more days at least. Draco is probably still mourning the loss of his parents, and that's not helping. And who knows what's going on with Mr. Weasley."

"Many children have gone to that mind healer over the past few days, and nearly all of them have good things to say about her. I will take you up on that deal for this year, if you and she are willing."

"I'm still willing, Headmistress. Please let her know her position has been extended, if you see fit."

"I do, Mr. Potter. Now that the unpleasantness is out of the way, what is the other thing you wanted to see me about?"

He grinned, just a little evilly. "Want to see the Heart of Hogwarts?"

He had never seen her move that fast. He followed her out the door bemusedly, as papers fluttered to the floor behind her.

**Room of Requirement**

He walked into the room with McGonagall, having set it to the "heart of Hogwarts" configuration. Amelia Bones appeared in the room a few seconds later. She was as anxious to see the Heart as anyone else, and jumped at the chance when offered to her. Hermione showed up a few seconds later, as well as Nick Flamel. Apparently Harry had timed things pretty well.

Hogwarts appeared. "Hello again, My Heir. I see you've brought some guests."

"Yes, I would like them to see the Heart of Hogwarts. And… the other thing."

Hogwarts laughed. Amelia looked confused.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Ms. Bones. I am the Heir of Hogwarts. This is the lovely physical embodiment of Hogwarts. Lady Hogwarts, this is Ms. Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE, and next Minister if I have anything to say about it."

"Pleased to meet you", Hogwarts curtsied, blushing just a little at the compliment. Amelia bowed in kind.

"Hogwarts, may we see the Heart, please?"

Hogwarts nodded, and a door appeared. All of them stepped out onto the catwalk. Hermione had seen it before so she was not as excited as McGonagall and Bones, who looked like they were going to faint.

Hogwarts went into tour guide mode. "Hogwarts sits upon three ley lines. All of these ley lines are directly tapped and the pure magical energy is absorbed into the castle walls for use. The taps are currently set at 1 and a half percent, or so, and this is enough to power all of the wards and magic that Hogwarts uses, with more available for the Forbidden Forest, the Black Lake, and Hogsmeade.

Nick spoke up. "I wasn't here when this was built, but I do recall we understood all of how it was built back when I was a researcher. This ethereal material that is surrounding the ley lines is neither energy nor matter, but solidified magic. In fact, most of the material that this room is built with is solidified magic. The process of making it is surprisingly simple, but requires an understanding of magic that is far above even the most educated person of this time. Solidified magic is indestructible by all physical and magical means - it requires an unravelling of the primordial energies of the Universe itself to dissipate. You can think of it as magic trapped in warped strands of the stuff of the void itself."

McGonagall murmured to herself. "What happened to us?", in wonder.

Amelia also murmured, "this looks like a superpowered version of the 'Heart of Azkaban'".

"You will understand more before we leave today, Professor. Hogwarts, would you show us the other room, please?"

They walked out, and the other door opened. They walked into the "computer room", as Harry had taken to calling it. Hogwarts went into tour guide mode again. "And this room is what Harry here calls the 'computer room', as this device resembles a non-magical supercomputer. It is, however, far more powerful than the computers that the non-magical folks will have available even in twenty years. They're catching up, but they have a while to go. And these 'stones', right here, are configurable wardstones, based upon the same 'trapped magic' as the Heart. Correct, Mr Flamel?", she asked, and he nodded. "Even with all of the wards we have set up in and around this castle, we have only used around fifteen percent of the current runic capacity, give or take."

All were suitably amazed that hadn't seen it before. They walked back out into the room, and Harry conjured some chairs. "Nick and I have a story to tell you", he said.

And they told them the whole story, from the beginning, to the opening of the Arch and the origin of dementors, the formation of the Guardians of the Arches, and the gradual dumbing down of the Magical world.

McGonagall looked thunderstruck.

Nick said, "I, myself, hold a level five mastery in three different subjects. This kind of mastery is no longer available. In fact, there exists no one qualified to teach one anymore except for, perhaps, me. We have lost a lot."

Amelia also looked pensive. "So you're telling me that the ministry was actually created as a foil for these "Guardians of the Arches" so that they could work under the radar from ever keeping us from learning enough to open the Arches again?"

"Quite so, Ms. Bones", Harry said.

"But, my ladies, that is not all. I am actually only getting started. We are now going to entrust you with information so secret that you will be able to speak of it with no one."

Harry stood up and waved for everyone else to do the same. He then spoke clearly to Hogwarts. "Shibboleth configuration, please." And the room turned into the massive library they had uncovered earlier.

Hermione reached a hand out and fainted.

Harry chuckled. "Didn't I tell you, Nick?", as he woke her up. She looked at the massive library with glazed eyes. "Harry, you know those silly books that my mother reads all the time with a big hunky guy on the front and a woman in a nightgown swooning? I feel like that right now." Her face was pure bliss.

"Well… *ahem*...", he decided to leave that be and turned to the other ladies, leaving Hermione to her rapture. "I am the first to be entrusted with bringing this knowledge back to the Magical world. For I am the…"

And she shifted into his disguise.

"Cha- oh, bugger."

Amelia had fainted.

He looked at McGonagall and sighed. "Champion of Yeshua", he said blandly, and woke Amelia up. "Way to ruin a moment", he said, grinning.

"Harry, you are - and this - and…"

McGonagall spoke up. "I know you are Harry Potter, and I know you are the Founder's Heir, but what is this "Champion of Yeshua" nonsense?"

"It's not nonsense, Headmistress. Do you know the story of Yeshua?"

"I've heard of a powerful ritual a long time ago, and that's all", she said. "He gained quite a following amongst the Muggles."

"All true", he said, "but he also became one with magic. He basically _is_ magic. And he chose me to be his first champion. I have absolute control of the magic in Great Britain, and the authority to invoke judgement in his name."

"Is that why Vold-"

"Not really, no. I sent him on in his name, but Yeshua pronounced judgement on his own that time. It is a terrible thing to see judgement pronounced. But that _is_ why Magical Ministries around the world right now are seeing their morgues fill up. I invoked judgement on the Guardians".

Understanding dawned in Amelia's eyes. "Not many survived that, did they?"

"I fear not," he said. "I have the authority to invoke judgement in his name, however, the only judgement I'm ever allowed to actually pronounce is whapping Hermione upside the head if she starts beating people over the head with the Bible."

Hermione turned red. Amelia laughed. "I don't think that will be a problem anymore," she said. "She'll be too busy in here."

"Probably true.", he said, and mussed Hermione's hair a bit. She barely noticed.

"So what do you want from us?," the Headmistress asked.

"Well, mostly, we just thought it was time to clue you in. But Ms. Bones, You do realize what this means for the government of Magical Britain, right?"

She thought for a moment, then her eyes widened. "You're going to have to uproot the whole thing, aren't you?"

He sighed. "Yes, I think so. The whole thing is the fruit of a dead plant. But I need your help to figure out how to do it with the least public disruption. Some functions of the Ministry, we still need. Law enforcement, for example. But we need to figure out what we don't. Think about the major functions of the Ministry. What is one of the biggest thing you do there?"

"Regulate transportation and attempt to enforce the statute of secrecy."

"Right. But we've found that the whole reason transportation is regulated is because of the fear that opening the Arches caused. So why do that anymore?"

"It does help us to know who went where, for law enforcement purposes."

"Fair enough, but can't that be done passively?"

"I guess it could. I don't make the laws, I just enforce them."

"True, but that won't be as much true once you're Minister, will it?"

She sighed. "Probably not."

"And then there's the whole political structure of the Magical world that we're going to have to figure out how to to deal with. The feudal nature of the Wizengamot, for example, kind of isn't going to work anymore. We've seen how enough people following a dark lord can bring the ministry, and thus the public, to its knees.

"And we're going to have to figure out what to do with the OWLs and NEWTs. As this knowledge becomes more understood and reintegrated, we're going to need to completely redo the curriculum. But we'll have to do it gradually. And, Headmistress, that's where I'll need your help."

"I think I see, Mr. Pot- Heir- Champ- oh forget it. I think I see, Mr. Potter."

"I have an idea on how to start," Harry said. "Ms. Bones, can you set up a research department at the Ministry whose job is to start sifting through all this knowledge and making sense of it all? I have a feeling I'll be able to get all of the other magical ministries around the world to help with that effort. It'll be a while before we can actually start changing things, but I took a look through Hogwarts: a History, and I found that the first year topics in the years after the founding of the school had a heavy emphasis on fundamental magical theory. Things we probably don't even know today."

"I need to wait until I'm elected, but I think I can make that happen."

"We can wait that long. Yeshua is working on raising champions in the other countries. Nick will start teaching some of the things he remembers as part of his DADA class, but it'll be a really dumbed-down form to begin with. But it'll be something, anyway."

"Change is coming, ladies. The only thing we can do is make the change as painless as possible. That doesn't mean painless, and our children and grandchildren may still be fixing this long in the future. But we need to start figuring it out now. I think the plan of setting up a research department in the ministry is a good start. Let me know when you get that done, and I'll give them access to this library. As a favor to me, I'd like a regular report on what they discover."

"I think that's more than fair, Mr. Potter."

"Right now, I guess we'll just sic Hermione… Hermione? Where are you?"

Nick laughed. "You got it right in one, sport."

They found Hermione, eventually.

**Defense Against The Dark Arts Classroom**

Harry was actually excited to go to the DADA class. He knew all of the stuff on the curricula, but this was Professor Flamel, and it was likely to be a class to remember. It was, but not all for the right reasons, as it turned out.

It was a shared class with the Gryffindors, and the running feud between Draco and Ron was becoming the stuff of legends. They made sure to sit as far away from each other as possible, and yet the glares still managed to punch through the heads of all the students between them.

Everyone found a seat and Professor Flamel walked in. He walked up to the front of the classroom and said, simply, "wands away. We won't be needing those for a while."

Ron spoke up. "But how will we learn to defend ourselves from the Dark Arts?"

The Professor looked Ron up and down. "Do you even know what the Dark Arts are?"

"Sure I do!"

"Then tell me, Mr… Weasley, is it? What are they?"

"Ummm… they're dark. And scary. And hurt people."

Professor Flamel looked down his nose at Ron. "Mr. Weasley, how can you expect to defend yourself from the Dark Arts when you don't even know what they are?"

"You" - he said to a random Slytherin. "Tell me a dark spell."

"The killing curse", the student said without hesitation.

"What makes it dark?", the Professor said.

"It kills people!"

"Two things. First of all, it's not the killing curse, it's the soul severing curse. Second of all, it has been used to put animals that were suffering and unhealable out of their misery. Is that dark?"

"Well… no".

"Then why is the curse dark?"

No one answered.

"You have to understand the nature of magic, and this is long forgotten knowledge that I am teaching again for the first time in four hundred years. Magic is that which binds everything together. It is the substrate for matter and energy. It is creation itself. But it, by itself, is amoral. There is no dark or light magic. There is only magic. It, by itself, cares not whether it kills you or heals you, but it holds everything together and is responsible for all long term evolution, whether it be geological or biological. Magic is in everything and everything is magical."

"Even Muggles?", Draco said disbelievingly.

"Even Muggles."

"Muggles aren't magical."

"Oh yes they are", Professor Flamel said, and Draco started turning red. "The only difference between magical people and muggle people is that we can perceive and affect magic directly. They cannot. But that's a simple matter of genetics. I'll prove it to you, because I anticipated this argument."

He stood back, and looked around the room. "I hid a Muggle in this classroom. One of you is a Muggle. In any way that you feel you can without casting spells directly at people, see if you can figure out which one of you it is."

There was a lot of milling around and peering at people, and after about ten minutes the Professor called a halt to the proceedings. He then had everyone in the classroom guess who the Muggle was.

A few people guessed correctly, but that was simply because they knew everyone in both houses and there seemed an odd person out.

"Here, I'll make it even more obvious. I'm going to cast a spell on this room that makes all magical objects glow. Watch."

He cast the spell and every person in the room glowed. Including the Muggle. In fact, absolutely everything in the room glowed with at least some brightness.

"For some reason, they cannot perceive or directly affect Magic, but in absolutely every other way, they are absolutely like you and me. This is not a political statement, but it is simply fact.

"Thank you, Miss Smythe. You may be excused. Please make your way to the Great Hall and you will find some food waiting for you." A pretty blonde girl in Slytherin robes stood up, curtsied politely, and left the room.

"One of my great great great great great great… I lost count… granddaughters. Beautiful, isn't she?"

A few in the class nodded. "Not so fast there", he laughed, at one boy who was being a bit too enthusiastic.

"But if she's your granddaughter that would make her a squib, right?", Draco asked, a little desperately.

"And how do you know that all people aren't descended from a Magical couple, then?"

He couldn't answer.

Ron spoke up. "Slimy snakes think Muggles are animals."

Draco appeared to be about to retort when the Professor stalked over to Ron, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and yanked him out of his chair. "I have been apprised of the feud going on between you, Draco, and every Slytherin you've encountered. I will not have it in my classroom. Get out of my class, and detention tonight with me. Draco, keep your mouth shut or it'll be the same for you." He literally dragged Ron over to the door and bodily threw him out. He closed the door and swiped his hands as if to say "well, that's done."

"My classroom is a place for sincere inquiries. If any of you are having feuds with each other or can't behave in a civilized manner, leave it outside the door. I will not tolerate that in my class. Is that understood?"

A Gryffindor raised his hand. "But many people _do _think Muggles are animals," he said, "and it seems that many of those people are purebloods. I'm not agreeing with the way Ron put it, but was he wrong?"

"Well", Flamel said, "Let's put it to the test. You" - and he pointed to Daphne Greengrass. "Do you think Muggles are animals?"

She looked very put on the spot, like she didn't know quite how to answer. "I… don't know. I know people who do, but I've rarely seen a Muggle. I don't think they're animals, I just don't know how they survive without magic."

"Thank you for your honest answer." Then he turned to the Gryffindor. "You will find many people simply have had no exposure to Muggles, so they have to go by the information they have, and sometimes that comes from their friends, who haven't met any Muggles either. In fact, this school may be the first time they've even seen a Muggleborn.

"I've been on this planet for close to six hundred and fifty years now, and I have found, over and over, that nearly all fear comes from ignorance. Maybe some of you do think Muggles are no more than animals. I don't know. Miss Greengrass says she knows people who do, and I believe her. But magic thinks otherwise, and perhaps you should pay close attention to what magic thinks, don't you think?"

Some of the class nodded, and others looked thoughtful.

"But let's go back to the first question. What are the dark arts? The answer is that magic is based on sacrifice. It always has been. Every use of magic requires a sacrifice. It may be as simple as a little tiredness after a simple spell, or it may be your life, or even more. But sacrifice is a necessary element for _all_ exercise of magic. So, given that, let me ask you the question again. What are the Dark Arts?"

A Slytherin tentatively raised her hand. "Magic that requires sacrifice of others?"

"Bingo!", he said, clapping once loudly. "Five points to Slytherin. That's _exactly_ it. Dark arts are dark because Dark Magic requires a sacrifice that _someone else pays_. That's always the case, and that's it! That's the definition."

"Then why are only three curses deemed unforgivable by the Ministry?", Harry asked in spite of himself. He suspected he knew the answer.

"Well, the reason they give is that they can't be blocked. But I think the real reason is this: these three curses are the only three of a classes of curses that are driven by strong emotion that are harmful. The Patronus is in the same class. What things do these four spells have in common? Anyone?"

Draco raised his hand at that one. "They don't work unless you really mean them."

"5 points to Gryffindor. Exactly. With, for example, the entrail expelling curse, you can just wave your arm and do the incantation and it will work, once you've practiced it for a bit. But with the killing curse, you have to _want_ them dead. With the cruciatus curse, you have to _want_ them to feel pain. With the imperius curse, you have to _want_ them to bend to your will. That, I think, is why these spells are actually unforgivable. They require a state of mind that you must already have before you can perform the curse properly, and once you have that state of mind, then it's not too much of a leap to consider you capable of becoming a "dark wizard". After all, by performing the curse, you've proven _a priori_ that you have no issue with extracting the most valuable of sacrifices from others premeditatedly. Their life, their sanity, or their free will. Three of the greatest gifts given to us from the creator.

_That_ is why they're unforgivable. And if any of you in this class are capable of performing any or all of those three curses, I suggest you take stock of your life _now_, and perhaps take advantage of the mind healer that the school has so graciously provided. I don't care if you know the incantation, I don't care if you know the wand movements, I don't care if you know in theory how to cast them. If you actually can, you are well on the road already to becoming a dark wizard, and I don't care how well you justify it to yourself.

"Professor", Draco said, "What about for self-defense?"

"Self defense with the cruciatus? How does that work?"

"But-"

"Mr. Malfoy, you get to argue with me about this when you are 650 years old, if you are still alive by then, which it is very likely you will not be. Listen to what I'm telling you. _If you can cast these curses, you need to deal with the fact that you can invoke such horrible emotions_."

He paused for a few seconds to let that sink in.

"I have never cast these curses", he said quietly. "In all of my 650 years, I've never needed to. I have killed, though. Many people wanted my stone, and were willing to kill me to get it. But you pick up a few tricks in as many years as I've been alive. It is not always wrong to kill. Sometimes, in fact, it is exactly the right thing to do. But it is always wrong to _want_ to kill. Do you understand the difference?"

The class nodded.

"And that is why it is Defense against the Dark Arts, and not Dark Arts. Hogwarts has never, even six hundred years ago when one could learn level five masteries and the secrets of the Universe were laid bare for our plundering, offered a Dark Arts class. It was still Defense against the Dark Arts. You have absolutely every right in the world to insist that no one take sacrifices from you that you are not willing to give. You have _no_ right at all to take sacrifices that are not given to you freely."

Draco raised his hand. "I understand what you are saying, professor, so please take this in the spirit in which is was intended - but _who says_?"

"Ahh, I see where you are going with this. If magic is amoral, then what gives me the right to tell you what you may or may not do, even if it involves pursuing the dark arts? Well, let me ask you something, Mr. Malfoy, and I do apologize if this question opens fresh wounds but it is the necessary response to your question. _Has a dark lord ever won_?"

Draco flinched.

Flamel nodded. "I don't expect you to answer that question, Mr. Malfoy, especially so soon. The answer is no. Dark lords never win. Because while magic itself may be amoral, that which ultimately guides it, and something does, is not. The best you can hope to get out of a life of darkness is illusory power and a few carnal pleasures. Debts _always_ come due, Mr. Malfoy. I will not pursue that answer further at this time. But think about it.

"Class, if you have any questions, please feel free to come see me. Even if it's just 'what does it feel like to be so old?' I get that one a lot. It has been a very, very long time since I was your age, and the world has changed a great deal in that time. I will not pretend to understand your young lives, and the follies of youth are not only to be expected, but celebrated. Even still, I am at your disposal. It has come time that I begin to pass my knowledge on. Please do take advantage of it. Class dismissed."

Draco left the room thinking very deeply. For he actually could cast all three of those curses, and had. What was the price he'd already paid? He didn't have any parents to answer to anymore, so maybe it was time to forge his own path.

For the first time since his sorting, he felt a sort of peace about having been sorted into Gryffindor. No, he was still not happy about it. But perhaps it was not such a bad thing, after all.

**Great Hall, Hogwarts**

That was actually a really interesting Defense class, Harry thought to himself. Flamel actually was a really good teacher. He knew that Nick was trying to shove a year's worth of magical theory into a couple of classes, and that it wasn't even really magical theory, but he was trying to give the students a foundation into what magic really _was_ before he tried to teach them how to use it. Harry thought that might stir up a few pureblood hornets, but those wouldn't be too hard to deal with. Nick had the advantage of being right, even if that didn't matter all that much politically. He'd deal with that as it came, he had the means to address the issue if it got out of hand.

Daphne Greengrass was doing her usual side-glance pick-at-her-food thing, and Harry was really starting to get unnerved by her behavior. He was interrupted from his musings by a throat clearing next to him.

"Mr. Potter", Ophelia Greengrass said. "I understand this is probably unexpected, but may I please have a word with you and my granddaughter after dinner?"

He saw Daphne turn beet red out of the corner of his eye, and she couldn't look him in the eye. Well, maybe now he would get some answers. "I'd be happy to, Professor."

"Meet me in my office in a half hour, then. Both of you. Thank you, Mr. Potter."

She turned around and went back to her meal. Daphne looked mortified. Well, whatever this was, it couldn't be good.

**Professor Greengrass' Office**

Half an hour later, Harry found himself in the new Potions Professor's office, who was sitting across from him, and Daphne was sitting in the chair next to him, obviously extremely nervous, fidgety, and looking everywhere but at him.

"Mr. Potter", the Professor said, "I understand that you were raised with Muggles, and were thrown into our world quite abruptly. I also understand that you likely have no understanding whatsoever about how to handle the affairs of a Lord in our society. So I hold none of that against you. In fact, due to this background, I am sure that you would prefer that I be blunt and get to the point rather than deal with all the formal niceties that you probably don't know how to do properly anyway."

Harry bored into her eyes. "Yes, Professor, getting to the point would be much appreciated. It looks like your granddaughter here is about to go mental"

An "eep" came from his left and a small smile tugged at Ophelia's lips. "I do believe you are correct about that, so perhaps getting to the point is for the best in any case."

She leaned forward.

"Are you aware that there is an active marriage contract between our families?"

He turned to look at Daphne, who was beet red and trying to make herself look as small as possible, hiding her face in her hands.

"Actually, no. I was not aware of that.", he said.

"Good", Ophelia said. "It would have been seen as a slight to our family if you were and did not acknowledge it. The Potter and Greengrass families have been allied for a while now, and my son, Cyrus and your father, James, signed a contract that you and Daphne would be married at the time that you came of age.

"What are the conditions of this contract?"

"Simply that you get married, and that you provide a heir for each of our lines."

He turned again to look at Daphne, who he didn't think could look more mortified if she were naked at the moment.

"Miss Greengrass, what do you think about this?", he said.

She looked like she wanted to run, and in fact, she wanted to do just that.

He used a little of his authority over magic, and his voice changed slightly. "Miss Greengrass, please calm down and tell the truth."

She straightened a little. "I've known about this contract since I was a small girl. My parents have always told me that I would marry Harry Potter. But I am too young to think of such things, and I do not want to live an unhappy life with someone I don't love. Perhaps I could love you in time, Mr. Potter, you are not hard on the eyes, but I really don't like being forced into it."

"And you are quite beautiful as well," he said, making her squeak and blush again. He turned to Ophelia. "And what do you think?"

She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Honestly? I hate pureblood culture sometimes. I understand why Cyrus did it. I understand why James did it. It would be a good thing for our families to have an heir, as we only have two girls. But eleven is far too young to be thinking of these things, and she should be free to enjoy her childhood without worrying about being betrothed. But I didn't sign the contract, so there's little I can do."

"What would happen if we were to just ignore the contract?"

"There are escape clauses, but they can't be invoked this early. They can only be invoked when both of you are of age. If you truly do not want to marry at that time, the dowry must be returned, and it's likely that it would negatively affect your relationship with the Greengrass family. Not me," she added hastily, "but my son. He's already a little miffed that you haven't contacted him, even though I explained to him that you probably didn't even know."

He rubbed the back of his head. This was a sticky wicket. It would be a simple matter to invalidate the contract - in fact, it would be a simple matter to simply invalidate all marriage contracts in Great Britain and perhaps he should consider the merits of doing so. But there was a real live girl next to him who believe that she was going to marry him, his family's honor was on the line, and there wasn't an easy answer. He thought to himself, "Yeshua, any help would be appreciated here."

He heard a laugh in his head. "It's easy to make broad proclamations and upend society, but when peoples' feelings become involved, it gets a little tricky, doesn't it? Don't do anything hasty. For all you know, I have ordained this. But, of course, for all you know, I haven't."

"Big help, Yeshua", he thought glumly.

"I'm serious about not doing anything hasty", Yeshua said. "Start thinking about your actions. That skill is going to be needed more and more as things progress."

It occurred to him that he was in over his head, and that might save him.

He turned to Daphne. "Daphne, I think you are a very beautiful girl, and I think that you will grow to be an even more beautiful woman. I don't know you, but I think you would make anyone a fine wife when the time comes. But this is not the time to think about that. I just wanted to tell you that first." She blushed and nodded. She seemed to feel a little more comfortable with the situation.

He turned to Ophelia. "Professor, I have recently come into quite a few lines by conquest, and I have yet to go over any of them yet. In fact, their contents are sitting in a Gringotts vault unopened. I have been far too busy since the sorting feast to deal with any of those legalities. For all I know, there may be marriage contracts in there as well that need to be addressed. It is likely I will need to hire a barrister and get all of this sorted out. And I really, really don't want to start a harem." He shuddered. "I can't imagine even _one_ right now."

"It is within my means to invalidate any marriage contract that I need to, binding or not, so that is not at the moment anything to be worried about it, but I do need to get all of these legalities out of the way. Since you tell me that our families are allied, I would like to meet your son in person, but with the understanding that I have absolutely no idea how to deal with the polite niceties of Wizarding society, so your family will have to be patient with me and excuse any slights. As I'm sure you understand, this is not negotiable, as there is nothing to negotiate. It simply is the way things are, and I have no time for a crash course in "Saying The Right Thing at the Right Time". Forgive my bluntness, but it is all I can offer."

She thought for a while. "I will speak to Cyrus. If he is not amenable to those terms, I would understand your hesitance to go through with the contract, even if he would not."

She sighed. "Sometimes we forget that these are children. I will be sure to remind him of that fact. If you are amenable, we may be able to teach you some of those skills you are lacking."

"That may be useful and I may take you up on it. Let me know when your son is available and I'll do my best not to screw it up too bad."

"It's a deal, Mr. Potter."

He turned to Daphne and took her hand, which made her blush. "My lady, now that we have gotten the unpleasantness out of the way, would you do me the honor of speaking to me at dinner instead of sneaking glances at me and picking at your food?"

She blushed harder but nodded, stifling a giggle. "I guess I have been a little obvious, haven't I?"

"Just a little eensy bit", he said, offhandedly. "Not like I noticed at the sorting feast or anything."

"Was I that bad?", she said, putting her head in her hands.

"Just so", he said, but laughed good-naturedly. "I will look forward to our conversations, milady."

She giggled. "And I you, my lord." She stood and gave an exaggerated curtsy, then dissolved into giggles again.

He grinned. "I think we'll get along fine. I look forward to meeting your son, Professor."

"I will let you know, Mr. Potter."

"In that case I shall take my leave. Milady", he said, and bowed exaggeratedly, "your beauty is only rivaled by… your beauty, I believe." A grin tugged at his lips, and Daphne giggled again. Her giggles were tinkly. He found he quite liked tinkly giggles.

He turned and walked out of the room.

A/N: Now we know what was going on with Daphne. I don't want this to become a political fic, and I'm not too worried about that happening. Yes, Harry needs to learn some finesse, and this is a good opportunity which he will take advantage of, but he always has the bulldozer option, and he's not afraid to use it.

In case you're wondering if this will be H/D… eh. Who knows. That's years in the future, if at all. I do think he made a new friend, though. And now that Draco is out of the picture in this timeline and most of Slytherin has been neutered, she has no need to be the Ice Queen anymore. She's just a giggly, blushing, awkward eleven year old girl. Ah, the follies of youth should be celebrated, as Nick says.

In case you're wondering why this never happened in the old timeline… Dumbledore made it go away. Harry never knew at all. That's one reason why Daphne was the Ice Queen. Rejection hurts.

I think I'm a few chapters away from winding down this story arc and preparing for the sequel. Many things have been set into motion, but it will now take time for them to percolate, and I don't want to write every bit of that process. But we have to get the big meeting with all the champions out of the way first and get things rolling.

Now I want to say something about the story. I feel like I've failed. I've been trying really hard to write a story that blends magic and Christian mythology, and do it in such a way as to avoid the traps that people fall into when writing this kind of story. I actually like how it's turning out in one sense, but I feel like I've failed at doing that somehow and fallen into a trap, but I must be blind to it because I can't see it. If you see what I don't, tell me please. I'm a little discouraged for that reason. I don't want to become what I dislike. And if I've managed to thread the needle, please tell me too. I'm not begging for reviews, but I could use some encouragement. Thanks.

8/21/19: Fixed McGonagall's name.


	7. New Heaven and New Earth

**Forgiveness and Healing**

**Dumbledore Cottage, Minehead**

Albus Dumbledore was sitting on his patio overlooking the sea, trying to calm his racing thoughts. His life had changed drastically in a week, and he knew it was all his fault, and not only because he was the one who had decided to resign. He wasn't quite sure what mistakes he had made, but he suspected he made a lot of them, and the reason he'd decided to resign was so that he was out of the picture before they could be made worse. Or catch up with him, if he were to be honest.

He heard a polite knock on his door, and looked confused. His wards had not detected a visitor. Nonetheless, he drew his wand and walked to the door. He cautiously opened it and could not hide his look of surprise.

"Mr. Potter?", he said, unable to keep the astonishment out of his voice. "Wha - What are you doing here?"

"May we talk, Mr. Dumbledore?", Harry asked politely.

"Of course, of course, I forget my manners. Please do come in," he said, and Harry walked in and allowed his eyes to roam around the cottage. It was a very cozy looking cottage, exactly how he imagined a cottage owned by Dumbledore to look. There were wheezing and chugging artifacts everywhere, display cases full of mementos and trinkets, and a wall full of windows which appeared to look out on the ocean.

Dumbledore guided him to the patio and they both sat down.

"May I offer you a drink?", Dumbledore said politely.

"No thank you, sir", Harry said, just as politely.

Dumbledore looked out onto the crashing waves, the smell of sea are was strong on the patio, and Dumbledore looked more relaxed than Harry had ever seen him. "This is a very peaceful place," Harry said.

Dumbledore sighed, a little contentedly. "That it is, Mr. Potter. That it is. Although I enjoyed my positions immensely, I had forgotten the simple pleasures of just sitting and watching the water come in and out."

Harry had to agree. "I could imagine living in a place like this when I become your age, Mr. Dumbledore."

"Please, call me Albus," Dumbledore said. "I'm no longer your headmaster and it's the least you deserve."

"Then please call me Harry," Harry said.

"To what do I owe this visit, Harry?", Dumbledore said. "I don't imagine this was just a social call."

"No, Albus, it isn't, unfortunately."

Harry took a little time to watch the waves himself. It was actually very calming and he could see why this kind of land was so valued.

Harry decided to ask a few questions he already knew the answer to. "Albus, I know you sent me to the Dursleys, even though your own staff advised you strongly not to do it, and I'm pretty sure against the wishes of my parents. Why did you do it?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I knew you were going to ask me that, Harry", he said. "I was hoping you wouldn't, honestly. But I have nothing to lose now."

Harry waited patiently while Dumbledore composed his thoughts.

"Harry, in your head was a horcrux. One of the most vile pieces of magic that has ever been conceived. It requires a cold-blooded murder and a few requirements, to split your soul and put a piece of it in a container. There was no way that I was aware of that it could be removed other than the death of the container. Honestly, Harry, I expected that you would have to die before Voldemort was defeated."

"I see", Harry said, somewhat unemotionally. He had known that, but he knew now that Dumbledore was going to be honest with him. That would help a lot with what he had to do.

"I was hoping to give you a normal childhood, unencumbered by the enormity of that which I believed you were ultimately sentenced. And to protect you from Death Eaters using a blood ward I set up. Harry, if you will forgive an old man his curiosity, how did you eventually remove the horcrux?"

Harry shrugged noncommittally. "It helps to know the right people. You know, many people believe you are the greatest living wizard, and that may even be true. I don't think it is, but you're certainly in the top three. I suspect, though, that this only applies to _embodied_ wizards. There is much we do not understand."

Dumbledore sighed. "You are certainly correct, Harry. There is much I don't understand, and the longer I live, the less I seem to know."

He was quiet for a moment. "You kept the horcrux a secret, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did, Harry. I thought it would be a very bad thing if people knew he was still alive before you had a chance to vanquish him."

"Nicholas Flamel is still alive, you know, and he still carries a lot of knowledge from before the Guardians of the Arches made sure that most of the knowledge of the Wizarding World was hidden."

"The what?"

"See, professor, you don't know everything after all. It was, after all, your ignorance and your penchant for secrets that sentenced me to ten years with the Dursleys."

"Surely it couldn't have been - "

"It was, and worse," Harry said. He turned around and showed Albus his back. Albus cringed.

"Surely your relatives -"

"Hated me", Harry said flatly. "Why didn't you check on me?"

"All the reports I received said you were a well treated young man."

"They were wrong."

"Just so", Dumbledore said sadly. "Just so."

Harry sighed. "Here's the problem, Albus. I don't think you were poorly intentioned at all. You saw a problem, believed that you were the only person in the world qualified to solve it - and for all you knew, you were _right_, so I'm not necessarily faulting you for that, and you made a plan to solve it. You can't be faulted for that. But what you can be faulted for is not understanding what makes a wizard dark in the first place. Albus, what makes a wizard dark?"

"They try to take power for themselves and use any means possible to accomplish that goal."

"Yes, that's true, but that's only one motivation and the means for a dark wizard to be a dark wizard. It's not what actually _makes_ them dark. What makes them dark?"

Dumbledore thought for a while. Then he put his head in his hands. When he finally removed them, Harry saw tears streaming down his face.

Harry was silent for a while, then said, softly. "Now you understand, Albus. Now you understand. You sought redemption for everyone, which is a commendable goal, but you didn't realize that you were in need of it the most. Darkness does not always come with a loud noise. Sometimes it is insidious and you don't even realize the road you went down until you reach the end. Sometimes it looks light, but that is only in comparison to an even deeper darkness that has no good intentions."

"I sacrificed you, and Black, and Snape, and others besides, for the Greater Good. It was for the Greater Good, but they were still sacrifices that wasn't mine to take," Dumbledore said. He was openly sobbing now. "The worst part, Harry, is that it all was for naught. One night and it all came crashing down. They weren't _even_ for the Greater Good. They were all wasted."

Harry sat quietly. "You didn't see it. You do now. It is not too late, Albus. Make peace. Make peace with what you've done, and make peace with those that you can.

"I forgive you, Albus, for what it's worth. Your intentions were good. Yes 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions', and that is true, but in my eyes, it counts for a lot. I don't know what your beliefs are, Albus, and frankly I don't care. But whatever higher power you believe in, ask its forgiveness. Forgiveness is given freely to those who ask sincerely. And maybe in seeking forgiveness, you will find answers to questions you didn't even know to ask."

Dumbledore looked at Harry with a tear streaked face. "How did you get so wise, Harry?," he asked quietly.

Harry thought about his answer carefully. "I didn't. But I did find the source of wisdom."

"What is it, Harry? What is the source of wisdom?"

"Seek forgiveness, Albus, and you may find that answer as well. You must seek this knowledge for yourself. But it is there, and might I say, you seem to have plenty of time left to stare at the sea and contemplate."

"Hopefully, Harry. Hopefully."

"Even if not, Albus, you're finally on the right path."

Dumbledore smiled wanly. "Thank you, Harry, for forgiving an old man his ignorance. I would like to be left with my thoughts for now. Please feel free to come by anytime. An old man like me can always use some company."

Harry nodded and stood up. "I will see myself out. Albus, if you would like, before you move on to the beyond, please look me up. I will show you the Heart of Hogwarts."

Dumbledore gaped. "You would do that for me?"

Harry grinned. "It is amazing, Albus. And it is a testament to all that we've lost over the last four hundred years. I will make arrangements with the Headmistress."

"Thank you, Harry," he said sincerely, and went back to watching the sea as Harry saw himself out. But he looked a little younger as he did so, and felt a little lighter. Debts do tend to weigh one down, he thought, with regret.

Harry arrived back at Hogwarts at the same time he left. He asked Yeshua in his head, "Why was I not supposed to tell him about you?"

The answer came back. "There are some people out there whose job it is to tell people who I am. They often - well, always - get the details wrong, and sometimes grossly misrepresent me, but that is what I have called them to do and they are often very successful at it. Not everyone has that calling. You do not. You have a very specific job to do, and evangelizing for me is not it.

"But that doesn't mean that you cannot lead people to me, in your own way. People like Dumbledore need a light touch, and frankly, Harry, you can be a rampaging dragon. Remorse is the first step. Eventually, he will meet me, in his own time and in his own way. It is not your job to introduce us. Your job is very clear, and you have plenty to get on with anyway. He is on the right path now.

"And so are you, Harry. Forgiving him was difficult, was it not?"

"More than I can express."

"And yet you did. People do not understand that their forgiveness also cancels out debts. The Death Eaters had many debts to pay. Had they been forgiven by their victims, they would have had fewer debts to pay. Then justice would be oriented towards showing them how to be grateful for that forgiveness, which is a very different type of justice."

"Ahh. The difference between paying off a bill and not taking for granted that someone did it for you."

"Just so, Harry. Just so."

**Defense Office, Hogwarts**

Ron walked sullenly into the office, where he found Professor Flamel waiting for him.

"Sit", he said, without preamble, and Ron did just that.

"I am not one to have students perform mindless menial labor as punishment, as I find it rarely works, just makes the student resentful, and serves no useful purpose as nearly of the menial labor could be done in seconds with magic or by a house elf. So today, Mr. Weasley, we will just… talk."

Ron looked dumbstruck. "Talk? That's it?"

"That's it", Flamel said. "Though sometimes talking is a worse punishment than any menial labor could ever be."

"I don't understand."

"You will, Mr. Weasley. Ever since being made Head of House, I have been regaled with tales from your housemates about how you behave towards Mr. Malfoy, Slytherins, people who are friends with Slytherins, people who look at a Slytherin the wrong way. Apparently you and Mr. Malfoy have gotten into some kind of feud that has sent innocent bystanders to the hospital wing. It is a simple fact, Mr. Weasley, that if you continue along this path, it can only lead to expulsion. Of course, neither of us wants this to happen, and I daresay your parents would be very disappointed, would they not?"

Ron did not meet Flamel's eyes.

"So tell me, Mr. Weasley. Why do you hate the Slytherins so much?"

"Because they're dark!"

"I see. And you are light, then."

"Well, yes!"

"Why do you think you're light, Mr. Weasley?"

"Because we follow… followed Dumbledore! He's the leader of the light!"

Flamel leaned forward. "Who says, Mr. Weasley? Who says he is the leader of the light?"

"He fought Grindelwald and won! And he was the only one that You-Know-Who ever feared! And he led the resistance against You-Know-Who!"

"I see. So let me see if I have this straight. Anyone fighting a dark lord is automatically light because they are fighting a dark lord."

"Yes", Ron nodded vigorously.

"So, Mr. Weasley, let me ask you a hypothetical question."

"What does that mean?"

Flamel facepalmed. "I am going to ask you a question simply for the purpose of asking the question. I want you to think about the answer, and give me the answer. Then we will forget about the question."

Ron nodded. "I think I understand."

"Alright, then. What happens when two dark lords fight? Does this make one of them light?"

The gears turned in Ron's head, and out popped an answer. "Well, no. They're both still dark."

"So why, then, would you assume that Dumbledore was light?"

"Because he… ohhhh.", Ron said, as realization hit. Just because Voldemort was dark didn't make Dumbledore light.

"I'm not saying that Dumbledore was dark, Mr. Weasley. What I am saying is that you cannot assume that you are light because you followed Dumbledore. You missed my lecture today, so you missed my explanation of dark magic. I'll not bother with the Platonic exercises I used with the class, so I will just come and say it. A wizard is dark when they demand sacrifices of other people for the accomplishment of their own goals. That's it. That's the only thing that makes them dark."

"But most of the Slytherins' parents and relatives were death eaters."

"I'll grant you that, Mr. Weasley. But the Greengrasses are alive. They never took the Mark. The families of many other students in Slytherin are alive. And the parents of a Gryffindor died. So now that you know what I just told you, why do you hate the Slytherins so much?"

Ron lowered his eyes. He realized the answer to the question, and it ashamed him.

"Answer the question, Mr. Weasley."

"Because most of them are rich," he mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Because most of them are rich," he shouted! "It's not fair! We're as pureblooded as the rest of them, and none of us get fancy clothes or lots of house elves or a manor! We just have a dirty home with lots of Garden Gnomes that we can't even get enough House Elves to remove!"

"Ahh, now we get to the heart of it. You're jealous of them."

"It's not fair!", Ron said, eyes brimming.

Flamel sighed. "And how many of them lost their parents because they fell to the wrong influence? Families a shadow of their former selves, some lines utterly ended and fallen to conquest. There are orphans in the school now, Mr. Weasley. Quite a few, in fact. There were even before Voldemort fell, because he orphaned quite a few people the first time around. Do you think being rich makes up for that? Don't you think most of them would give up all their money to get their parents back?" He raised his hand. "No, not all", he admitted. "There _are_ bad apples in Hogwarts. But they are in every house, and as much as I hate to say it, most of your co-students think you're one of them."

"Me? How?"

"Because your petty jealousy is causing you to lash out in ways that are harming other students."

Ron lowered his eyes.

"Mr. Weasley, you will serve six detentions over the next week. They will not be with me, but they will be with the mind healer that the school has so graciously provided. I will tell her what we discussed, and then I will have no further knowledge of what you discuss with her. But you _will_ attend the sessions, and if I continue to hear about more troublesome behavior from you, you will serve more detentions with her. And if I hear that you are not cooperating, I will take more drastic action, which may include a conference with your parents. Am I understood, Mr. Weasley?"

Ron nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"You are actually lucky, Mr. Weasley. Mind healers are expensive. The school is providing her services for free. And you _will_ take advantage of them. This detention is over. You are dismissed."

Ron walked out of the room, a combination of angry, jealous, and lost in thought.

**Great Hall - Hogwarts**

The "Golden Four", as they had affectionately, or not so affectionately, been called, were sitting at the Gryffindor table today. But they had an addition. Along with Harry, Hermione, Kamiko, and John, Daphne Greengrass was also sitting next to Harry.

"Hermione Granger, Ichikawa Kamiko, and John Miller, this is Daphne Greengrass, a new friend of mine. Miss Greengrass, this is Miss Granger, Miss Ichikawa, and Mr. Miller."

Kamiko stood up and bowed. "_Hajimemashite_", she said politely, and sat down.

"What does that mean?", Daphne asked.

"It means, roughly, 'nice to meet you' in Japanese", Kamiko said.

"Well, in that case hajimema- what was that?"

"Ha-ji-me-ma-shi-te", Kamiko said slowly and clearly.

Daphne repeated the word slowly, and then smiled. "I know Japanese now!"

Kamiko grinned. "I don't even know Japanese yet", she said. "But you know a Japanese word. And frankly, that's more than many people know."

"What does your name mean?", Daphne asked curiously.

"Child of God. My parents put a prayer on a shrine to have a child, and I was born. _Kami_ means God. It also means 'hair' and 'paper', though, so my name actually uses the symbols that mean specifically that, even though many feminine names are written differently. I guess my parents wanted to make absolutely sure what my name meant. _Ko_ means 'child'."

"I see. That is a nice story," Daphne said quietly. "I think I was named after a distant ancestor. It is also the name of a nymph in Greek Mythology who escaped from Apollo's attentions by turning into a laurel tree."

"Greek Mythological characters always seem to meet unfortunate ends, do they not?", Kamiko said quizzically.

"Most mythological characters do," Hermione said. "I think it's what makes them mythological."

"What does your name mean, John?", Kamiko asked.

"It's the name of a character in the Bible," John said. "One of Yeshua's original disciples."

Daphne frowned. "What is the Bible?" she asked.

Hermione answered quickly, as that was a minefield question if there ever was. "It's a collection of ancient books detailing the origin story of an ancient people called the 'Hebrews', culminating in the description of a very powerful magical ritual performed about two thousand years by one of their descendants, Yeshua, and then a few books describing how his followers were figuring out how to live in harmony."

Harry nodded. That was as good a description as you could get and still stay neutral.

"I see", Daphne said.

"It's not very well known in the magical world because our religions tend to be more nature-based and druidical, but it's extremely popular amongst the non-magicals. Billions of copies have been printed in almost every language ever spoken."

"Billions?", Daphne said, a little shocked. She didn't think there were a billion of anything in the magical world. Not even Galleons.

"Billions. I can get you one if you want to read it sometime. It can be a really boring read, but parts of it are interesting."

"I think I'll pass for now, I have enough to read. But thanks for the offer.", Daphne said politely.

John appeared to want to say more about it, but Harry locked eyes with him and shook his head, the unspoken message clear. Drop it.

"Hermione, what does your name mean? It is very unusual", John asked instead.

"Also comes from Greek mythology, though Shakespeare made it famous."

"Who?", John asked.

"Famous non-magical playwright", Hermione said. "Some of his plays are very famous but they are notoriously difficult to understand and some people use them as an excuse to take a nap. I quite enjoyed "Romeo and Juliet" though when my parents took me to see it".

"What is it about?"

And thus Daphne became a part of the "Golden five".

**Conference Room, Somewhere**

Harry faded into a room where there were already a couple of hundred people milling about, chatting quietly with each other. There were all sorts of people from everywhere. There were Chinese people wearing traditional dress, Indians, Africans wearing brightly colored clothing. It truly was amazing to see. After a few more minutes, Yeshua faded in and clapped his hands, and everyone quieted. Some people knelt, some fell on their face, some curtsied, some bowed, and some greeted him very informally. They was at least one "Howdy, Yeshua!", ringing throughout the hall. But everyone seemed content to allow the others to do as they felt appropriate.

"Welcome to the first convention of the Order of the Champions!", Yeshua said happily. "I have selected you, at least one from every country with a Magical Government of some sort, to work towards the common goal of preparing our governments for eventual unification with the non-magical world. I trust all of you have found your respective Guardians' offices and took care of any unpleasantness?"

Everyone nodded, some looking a little shell-shocked.

"Well, as you know, you all have absolute magical authority in your areas of jurisdiction, though all of you have some magical authority everywhere. I ask that you work together to accomplish our common goals. Perhaps my first Champion, a Mr. Harry Potter from Great Britain, would like to say a few words about that?"

He wasn't really prepared for that, but he conjured a small platform and stepped up on it. "All of us have a different style of ministry to deal with, so there's no one-size-fits-all solution. I know that the MACUSA, for example, has taken a policy of complete isolation, and thus it will take a lot more work to deal with that situation than in my part of the world, where non-magicals and magical people interact in a more relaxed way. But the goal is always going to be the same - research the hidden knowledge that is now hidden in Hogwarts and make sure that it starts getting taught in your schools, and also making sure that we are keeping up to date with non-magical science so that we can begin to find places where the research overlaps. This will take time, a lot of time, but let us make sure to work together so that we accomplish the goal of Yeshua - one world, in peace and harmony!"

Everyone cheered at his speech.

Yeshua nodded. "Yes, there is much work to do, and it will take a lot of time and energy. No one expects immediate results. I will work with each of you individually and make sure that we are all going in the same direction. Now, with that said, why don't we go around the table and introduce ourselves? I know there are many of us, and no one can remember everyone, but I will ensure no one forgets either a name or a face once this meeting ends. So let's get started!", he said, and people from all over the world began one of the greatest and most important undertakings the world had ever seen and would ever see again.

After the meeting, Harry returned to Hogwarts, satisfied that the beginning of the end of the age had finally started. And the age to come, he was sure, would be a place beyond the imagining of everyone who had ever prayed for the Creator to come and fix all of the suffering in the world. Yes, he thought to himself. The grace of Yeshua be with the Lord's people, who turned out to be everyone on the planet and beyond. Amen.

A/N: I think I will close the book on this note. I believe that all important loose ends are tied, and we are well on the way to bringing a "new heaven and new earth".

I plan a sequel at some point, but I think it will be set after everyone graduates. The timeline is now so irrevocably changed that the next seven years, while having ups and downs like any school, will be mostly uneventful as Harry and Amelia carefully work to dismantle the ministry so that the lost knowledge can be reintegrated with the magical worlds, and slowly introduced into the non-magical world as science. But I've written over 50,000 words in the space of a week, so I think I'm done for a while. Follow me for the sequel, when it comes out.

There are a few minor grammatical and spelling errors throughout the story, mostly using the wrong word so it passed spellcheck. It was unbetad. I will go back over the next few days and fix what I find.

I do hope you enjoyed the story, and I do hope that I managed to do what I had set out to do. If not, well, it was an honest effort anyway. I tried.

Before I go, though, I want to say something I feel is important. A part of me feels kind of ashamed of this book. I feel like I wrote a really good quality fanfic, don't get me wrong, it has a decent plot, okay pacing, believable characters, etc. It's not bad in that sense. But I feel like I might have written Yeshua too well. I don't mean I was 100% accurate - for one thing, this is fiction and by definition I had to take a little artistic license (the cross was not a magical ritual in the Rowling sense of the word). For another thing, of course I got some things wrong. I'm not him. But on some things, I feel like I got way too close for comfort. It almost disturbs me, in a sense, how this story turned out for that reason.

So if this story makes you uncomfortable for some reason, thanks for reading through anyway, and you're in good company. For some reason I can't explain, it makes me feel uncomfortable too. Even as I'm proud of writing it, a part of me feels like I really shouldn't have taken the liberty. But I'm going to leave it up anyway.

Until later, and thank you for reading.

I have gone back and revised all chapters, which ended up adding about five thousand words to the story. I did not change the plotline in any appreciable way, so you can reread or not, and you won't miss much. I do think the changes I made were for the better, even though I'm absolutely sure there are a few grammar and spelling errors still lurking around. I'll fix them as I see them. I already have some ideas for the sequel, but they're not keeping me up at night, though if it gets to that point I'll have to start writing. I do have a deleted scenes and omake chapter in the works at some point as a bonus, so keep an eye out for that. Again, thanks for reading.

Sequel, btw, is posted.


	8. Deleted Scenes and Omakes

A/N: These are deleted or extra scenes that I didn't feel like putting in the main story for whatever reason. There are also some omakes here as well. I'll clearly mark them so you can know what's "canon" and me being silly.

**Justice: Rodolphus Lestrange**

Rodolphus found himself in the same room that most of the other Death Eaters found himself, and Death walked in, looking much like he had when the other Death Eaters encountered him. He sat down, and stared quietly at Rodolphus. He said nothing for a few minutes, and for every minute he didn't speak, Rodolphus was getting more and more nervous.

Finally he spoke, without preamble. "Rodolphus, what do you have to say for yourself?"

When Rodolphus looked back on his life, he could see nothing that he felt that he needed to defend.

"I defended our world from the mudbloods."

"Well, that you did, though why you think that's anything but a negative is beyond me."

"I thought it was the right thing to do, anyway".

"Yes," Death agreed. "Actually, you did. How about the way you treated Bellatrix after you married her?"

Rodolphus shrugged. "She was my property. I could do what I wanted."

Death shook his head. "Your moral compass is so out of whack you don't even think you did anything wrong."

"I didn't. I did everything I was supposed to as a pureblood."

Death sighed. "Well, unfortunately for you, only one of us as an opinion that counts, and it's not you. I disagree. But, worse than that, I don't only hold you responsible for your own misdeeds, but also those of your wife, Bellatrix. Since you forced her to do all of the disgusting things that she did, you are responsible for her debts as well."

Rodolphus was quiet. He knew things weren't going well, but he still believed he had done the right thing.

"I have decided. Your judgement is this: First, you will live throughout Bellatrix's entire life. From the very beginning to the end, _as_ her. You will experience everything you ever did to her, from _her_ perspective. Secondly, you will experience the hours of torture that both Frank and Alice Longbottom endured at your wife's hands, from _their_ perspective. You will feel every bit of pain until their mind goes. Then we will meet again, and I will decide if you have learned, at least, that what you have done is wrong. If you still haven't learned your lesson, I will think of something else suitable until you do. You have the debts of two people to discharge, and it starts now. Begone". And Rodolphus disappeared.

Yeshua sighed. Actually, he hated that kind of justice. It was too close to revenge for comfort. But he had to get through to Rodolphus first that what he did and believed was actually _wrong_, before he could start working on the other stuff.

**Augustus Rookwood: Justice**

Augustus Rookwood found himself in the same room as everyone else. Death walked in the door and sat down behind the desk.

"So, what do you have to say for yourself?", he asked.

"Nothing", he responded. "I can't defend it. Some of it I could try, but I knew what was going on in the Dept. of Mysteries and went right along with it."

"So you did. Actually, judging you is difficult. On the one hand, you were a death eater, and passed knowledge from the Guardians of the Arches to Voldemort - what you had available, anyway, which was very little. You were also an unspeakable, which is very aptly named as many of you did unspeakable things in the name of research. On the other hand, the amount of damage you specifically caused, directly or indirectly, was minimal, as you had little to do with the truly abominable research in the Department of Mysteries.

"So I judge you thus: Every day, we will spend one hour going over what has happened that day in the magical world as the unspeakables will soon be destroyed and the knowledge the Guardians of the Arches were keeping to themselves will come to light. You will watch a magical and non-magical renaissance the likes of the world has ever seen, knowing all the time that you were part of the organization that was actively keeping this from happening. This will continue until you understand what exactly you were a part of and why it was so evil. After that, you will apologize sincerely to everyone you have hurt, and then we will call the debt square. In some ways you are getting off easy, but I promise you - when you see what you and your organization was preventing from happening, you will weep bitter tears. There is a holding area for people like you. It is sparse, but not uncomfortable. Our first 'lesson' starts tomorrow. Begone". And Rookwood disappeared.

**Omake #1**

"My older self has a question, Hogwarts"

"Oh, my heir? What is it?"

Harry blushed. He really didn't want to ask this. "I know you do not want to have a child. But have you... tried?"

Hogwarts turned beet red. "There were... some... over the years. It is pleasant, but it turns out my consciousness is so vast that even if my body is completely into the act, it is only a small part of what I'm actually processing at the moment. My lovers could tell. It never lasted."

"So you were too much... castle for them?"

She laughed, breaking the tension. "Just so."

**Omake #2**

The Champion of Yeshua in the old timeline:

"Ginny!", he said, trying to wake her.

"She won't wake."

"I invoke judgement on you".

The spectre disappeared, the book exploded, and Ginny started waking up.

**Omake #3**

The Champion of Yeshua in the old timeline:

"The dementors of Azkaban? Here?"

Harry paused. "Not anymore."

**Omake #4**

The Champion of Yeshua in the old timeline:

A piece of parchment fluttered out of the Goblet. "Harry Potter", Dumbledore said, a look of astonishment on his face.

"Nope", Harry said. "The contract is null and void. I declare it so." The goblet flashed, and that was that. It was a good tournament.

**Omake #5**

The Champion of Yeshua in the old timeline:

"Robe me", Voldemort said, as he rose out of the cauldron.

"What was that?", Harry asked. "Invoke Judgement on you? Don't mind if I do. Yeshua, if you please."

One minute later, he took the portkey back to Hogwarts, to pandemonium. All the Death Eaters in the audience were dead.

**Omake #6**

"Yeshua, I know I can't judge, but may I make a suggestion? She'd make a great toad."

"Sounds good to me."

"Ribbit"


End file.
